THE    PUBLIC    MINISTRY 


AND 


PASTORAL    METHODS 
OF  OUR   LORD. 


BY 

WILLIAM  GARDEN^LAIKIE,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

•ROFESSOR  OF  APOLOGETICS  AND  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  AND  PASTORAL  THEOLOGY 
IX  THE  NEW  COLLEGE,  EDINBURGH. 


NEW  YORK: 

ROBERT  CARTER  AND  BROTHERS, 

530  BROADWAY. 

1883. 


The  present  volume  bears  on  a  department  of  the 
life  of  our  Lord  to  which,  amid  all  that  has  been 
written  lately,  very  little  attention  has  been  given 
I  trust  therefore  it  will  be  found  to  supply  a  want, 
and  will  prove  useful  not  only  to  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  but  to  all  who  take  part  in  Christian  service. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  volume  has  formed 
part  of  the  author's  lectures  on  Homiletical  and 
Pastoral  Theology,  delivered  to  the  students  of  the 
New  College,  Edinburgh.  Coming  in  as  that  subject 
does  at  the  very  close  of  a  four  years'  theological 
course,  my  aim  there  is  not  so  much  to  impart 
knowledge,  as  to  communicate  to  the  students  a 
tone  and  practical  impulse.  For  this  purpose 
one  of  the  best  means  is  the  study  of  the  Public 
Ministry  and  Pastoral  Methods  of  our  Lord.  I 
have  found  the  subject  grow  in  my  hands  from 
year  to  year,  till  it  has  come  to  be  out  of  proportion 
to  the  other  parts  of  the  course ;  and  though  the 
present  volume  has  a  measure  of  completeness,  I 
know  well  that  there  are  many  other  parts  of  the 
life  of  Christ  that  may  yield  similar  lessons. 


VI  PREFACE. 

This  volume  is  in  some  sense  a  sequel  to  my 
book,  "  For  the  Work  of  the  Ministry  :  a  Manual  of 
Homiletical  and  Pastoral  Theology."  On  another 
side  it  has  a  connection  with  my  "  Glimpses  of 
the  Inner  Life  of  our  Lord."  May  the  three  prove 
a  threefold  cord,  each  adding  to  the  effect  of  the 
other  two,  and  all  contributing,  under  the  Divine 
blessing,  to  build  up  the  kingdom  of  God. 


CONTENTS. 

Chap.  Page 

I.  Our  Lokd's  Ministry  as  an  Example,   .        .  1 

II.  Preparation  for  His  Ministry,     .        .        •  21 

III.  Inner  Spirit  of  His  Ministry,       ...  39 

IV.  Outer  Features  of  His  Ministry,          .        ,  59 
V.  Beginning  of  His  Jud^an  Ministry,     .         ,  77 

VI.  Beginning  of  His  Galilean  Ministry,  .  ,  95 
VII.  His  Work  as  a  Teacher,  .  .  .  .113 
VIII.  Elements  of  Impression  in  His  Teaching — 

I.  Internal, 134 

IX.  Elements  of  Impression  in  His  Teaching — 

n.  Structural, 155 

X.  Elements  of  Impression  in  His  Teaching — 

III.  Illustration,         ....  174 

XI.  Parabolic  Discourses, 186 

XII.  Public  Discourses — Sermon  on  the  Mount,  203 

XIII.  The  College  of  the  Twelve,          .        .        .  220 

XIV.  Dealings  with  the  Apostles,         .        .         .  238 

XV.  Dealings  with  Different  Classes — 

I.  Outside  the  Kingdom,  .        .         •  256 

XVI.  Dealings  with  Different  Classes — 

11.  On  the  Borders  of  the  Kingdom,  275 
XVIL  Dealings  with  Different  Classes — 

III.  Inside  the  Kingdom,      .        .        .  293 

XVIII.  His  Farewell, 313 

XIX.  His  Re-appeaeance, 333 


*«^*^ 


I 


CHAPTER   I.    ^^^Py^'<k-^ 

HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.         ^^^Bvi^r=^ 

Is  it  a  bootless,  perhaps  a  presumptuous  task,  for 
those  who  are  left  to  build  up  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
in  this  world  to  try  to  trace  out  the  Master's  ways 
of  working,  and  find  footprints  in  which  they  may 
follow  ?  Are  the  natural  and  the  supernatural,  the 
human  and  the  divine  in  Christ's  earthly  ministry 
blended  too  closely  for  us  to  disentangle  them,  so  as 
to  make  good  use  of  what  alone  belongs  to  us  ?  Is 
it  only  with  vague,  admiring  wonder  that  we  can 
gaze  on  that  career  which  was  the  turning-point  of 
the  world's  history,  the  great  crisis  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  ?  Is  the  ministry  of  our  Lord  to  be 
classed  with  the  blue  sky,  or  the  rainbow,  or  the 
starry  heavens,  or  other  wonderful  works  of  God, 
— things  that  are  not  only  too  high  for  us,  but  in 
every  sense  beyond  our  power  to  imitate,  much 
more  to  equal  ? 

This  position  has  been  held  by  some,  and  notably 
by  one  of  the  most  reverent  of  German  theologians 
— Carl  Immanuel  Kitzsch.  In  his  judgment,  our 
blessed  Lord,  from  His  altogether  unparalleled  per- 
sonality, and  from  His  unique  relation  to  the  King- 
dom  of   God,   stands   beyond    the   sphere    of  our 

A 


2  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

imitation,  and  can  in  no  sense  be  treated  as  a  homi- 
letical  model.  But  in  opposition  to  this,  it  has  been 
forcibly  urged  that  inasmuch  as  He,  the  Incarnate 
Word,  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  Man  as  He  was  in  a 
sense  wholly  unique,  nevertheless  appeared  also  as  a 
prophet  in  Israel  and  went  about  on  earth  in  the 
garb  of  a  teacher,  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  us,  as 
disciples  in  the  first  instance,  and  as  preachers  and 
teachers  next,  to  sit  at  His  feet  and  learn  of  Him.^ 
If  the  example  of  Christ  were  wholly  inapplicable 
to  us  as  His  public  servants,  it  could  hardly  be 
suitable  to  us  as  His  personal  followers.  Yet  nothing 
is  more  certain,  or  more  readily  accepted  by  the 
Christian  conscience  in  reference  to  our  ordinary 
life,  than  that  He  hath  left  us  an  example  that  we 
should  follow  His  steps.  If  the  example  be  so 
binding  in  the  one  sphere,  it  must  surely  have 
some  power  in  the  other. 

But  besides  this,  many  weighty  considerations 
show  why  the  servants  of  Christ,  to  the  very  end  of 
the  dispensation,  should  give  earnest  heed  to  His 
ways  and  example  as  a  minister. 

1.  First,  Our  Lord  said  to  the  Father :  "  As  thou 
hast  sent  me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  also 
sent  them  into  the  world  "  (John  xvii.  1 8).  And  after 
His  resurrection  He  said  to  the  Apostles  :  *'  As  the 
Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you"  (John 
XX.  21.)  The  Apostles  in  their  work  for  the  world 
bore  the  same  relation  to  Christ  as  Christ  bore  to 
the  Father.  When  Jesus  left  the  world,  they 
remained  to  continue  the  work.  And  when  they 
left  the  world  they  committed  the  things  that  they 
1  Van  Oosterzee,  Practical  Theology,  p.  71. 


HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  3 

had  heard  to  faithful  men  who  should  be  able  to 
teach  others  also.  In  Christ's  hands,  no  doubt,  the 
work  was  done  very  differently  from  the  way  in 
which  it  was  done  or  can  be  done  in  any  other. 
But  it  is  the  same  work,  and  as  far  as  the  case 
admits,  it  is  to  be  done  in  the  same  way.  The  fact 
that  we  are  sent  into  the  world  to  continue  in 
certain  respects  the  work  which  He  began  should 
constrain  us  to  look  carefully  to  His  ways  of  doing 
it.  This  is  the  true  apostolical  succession.  What 
is  any  amount  of  laying  on  of  hands,  or  any 
mechanical  chain  that  can  be  conceived,  compared 
to  the  succession  that  inherits  the  true  spirit  and 
holy  methods  of  the  Master  ? 

2.  Again,  we  are  taught  that,  in  doing  His  work, 
Christ  took  upon  Him  the  form  of  a  servant. 
Though  He  was  "  in  the  form  of  God,  and  thought 
it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  he  made  him- 
self of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him  the  form 
of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men." 
The  self-emptying  of  Christ  is  one  of  the  deep 
things  which  we  can  never  fully  comprehend.  But 
we  can  understand  how  it  brings  Him  as  a  Minister 
nearer  to  ourselves,  and  more  within  the  scope  of 
our  imitation.  He  freely  placed  Himself  under 
conditions  many  of  which  were  the  same  as  ours. 
Not  only  did  He  work  with  a  body  subject  to  weari- 
ness, hunger,  and  thirst,  and  with  a  soul  keenly 
alive  to  reproach,  to  contradiction,  to  treachery,  and 
all  kinds  of  evil  treatment,  but  the  spirit  of  sub- 
jection to  another  ruled  His  whole  life,  and  the 
sense  of  dependence  on  another  for  daily  strength 
and  succour   showed   itself  continually,  especially 


4  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

in  His  habit  of  incessant  prayer.  '•'  In  all  things  it 
behoved  him  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren." 

Of  the  working  of  this  servant-feeling  in  Jesus  we 
have  some  beautiful  glimpses  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  especially  in  one  very  remarkable  Messianic 
passage, — the  fiftieth  chapter  of  Isaiah.  Nothing 
could  be  more  beautiful  than  the  spirit  of  subjection 
there  expressed ;  it  reminds  us  of  little  Samuel  as 
he  seemed  to  hear  the  voice  of  Eli.  "The  Lord 
God  hath  given  me  the  tongue  of  the  learned,  that 
I  should  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in  season  to  him 
that  is  weary ;  he  wakeneth  morning  by  morning, 
he  wakeneth  mine  ear  to  hear  as  the  learned." 
Not  only  is  Messiah's  capacity  for  instructing  the  gift 
of  God,  but  the  daily  bread  which  he  is  to  serve  out ; 
morning  by  morning  Jehovah  wakens  him  to  receive 
the  lessons  which  He  is  to  impart  during  each  day. 

3.  Hence,  thirdly,  when  we  proceed  to  the  more 
minute  examination  of  our  Lord's  ministry,  we  are 
surprised  to  find  how  near  it  seems  to  lie  to  us. 
Viewing  it  as  an  example,  we  find  that  it  is  not 
so  hopelessly  beyond  our  imitation  as  we  might 
have  expected  it  to  be.  The  supernatural  halo  that 
encompasses  the  prophets — Moses  or  Isaiah,  for 
example — undoubtedly  affects  their  influence  as  ex- 
amples, because  it  sets  their  ministry  in  another  plane 
from  ours.  In  the  case  of  Jesus  there  is  so  much 
more  of  the  supernatural  than  in  the  prophets  that 
we  might  have  expected  a  still  greater  gulf  between 
His  ministry  and  our  own.  No  doubt,  in  one  sense, 
the  gulf  is  infinitely  wide,  yet,  in  a  human  sense, 
Christ  appears  to  walk  by  our  side.  Strange  to  say. 
He  is  more  of  a  companion  among  us  than  Moses  or 


HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  5 

Isaiah.  In  His  relation  to  the  twelve  He  is  seen 
in  a  more  familiar  light  than  they.  It  is  in  their 
intercourse  with  their  friends  that  men  reveal  them- 
selves most.  It  was  Christ's  pleasure  to  treat  His 
Apostles  not  as  servants  but  as  friends.  This  gives 
us  a  wonderful  insight  into  the  natural  life,  so  to 
speak,  and  the  social  nature  of  Jesus.  It  makes 
Him  appear  so  brotherly,  so  thoroughly  one  of  our- 
selves, that  it  seems  just  what  ought  to  be  that  we 
should  live  as  He  lived,  and  serve  as  He  served. 

Yet  we  must  remark,  and  with  deepest  reverence, 
that  with  all  His  naturalness  and  social  likeness  to 
us,  and  with  all  His  participation  in  the  infirmities 
of  our  nature.  He  never  shows  kinship  with  us  in 
our  sins.  It  is  a  strange  yet  common  experience, 
that  out  of  some  of  the  very  blunders  of  great  and 
good  men  and  of  their  failings  in  duty  there  springs 
up  a  fellow-feeling  between  them  and  ordinary 
mortals,  otherwise  hardly  possible.  How  often  do 
we  feel  that  one  touch  of  fallen  nature  makes  us 
kin  !  When  Moses  strikes  the  rock,  when  Elijah 
flies  to  the  desert,  when  Jonah  takes  his  passage  in 
the  ship,  when  Jeremiah  pleads  his  youth,  when 
Paul  and  Barnabas  fall  out  about  Mark,  we  feel  that 
they  were  men  of  like  passions  with  ourselves,  and 
possibly,  for  this  very  reason,  we  appreciate  more 
highly  the  noble  service  which,  despite  their  in- 
firmities, they  were  able  to  render.  We  see  them 
not  as  mere  lay-figures,  invested  by  fanciful  writers 
with  every  imaginable  excellence,  and  quite  beyond 
the  sphere  of  humanity, — of  the  order  of  angels 
rather  than  men ;  but  of  flesh  and  blood  like  our- 
selves, not  without  hasty  tempers  and  carnal  fears, 


6  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

hearts  that  could  be  moved  by  temptation,  and 
consciences  that  could  be  paralysed  for  a  time  by 
sin. 

But  there  is  nothing  of  this  kind  in  our  blessed 
Lord.  He  never  falls,  never  slips,  never  sins.  It 
is  very  remarkable  that  in  spite  of  this  we  should 
feel  so  near  to  Him.  That  it  should  be  so,  is  due 
to  the  intensity  of  His  love,  the  depth  of  His  humi- 
lity, and  the  fulness  of  His  humanity.  He  touches 
us  so  closely  at  all  points  where  contact  is  possible 
that  for  the  time  we  are  hardly  conscious  of  the 
points  where  the  distance  is  so  great  that  contact  is 
not  possible.  The  woman  that  washed  Christ's  feet 
with  her  tears  was  separated  from  Him  morally 
by  a  whole  universe,  but  compassion  drew  His 
heart  into  closest  contact  with  hers.  As  two  houses 
that  are  connected  by  a  mutual  gable  on  one  side, 
may  be  said  on  the  other  side  to  be  separated  by 
the  whole  circumference  of  the  globe,  so  Christ  in 
His  humanity  could  come  into  closest  intimacy 
even  with  those  from  whom  in  a  higher  sense  He 
was  separated  by  infinity.  In  His  dealings  with 
His  disciples,  His  gentleness,  His  forbearance,  His 
consideration  broke  down  every  barrier  to  loving 
and  confidential  intercourse.  As  we  study  His  life 
and  ministry  we  come  under  the  influence  of  the 
same  attractive  power.  Not  as  individuals  merely, 
but  as  workers  together  with  Christ,  we  are  con- 
strained to  draw  near ;  like  Mary,  we  sit  at  His  feet, 
and*  learn  of  Him  who  is  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart. 

4.  But  if  we  would  perceive  more  clearly  in  what 
respects  our  Lord's  ministry  is  an  example  to  us,  it 


HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  7 

will  be  useful  to  break  up  His  work  into  its  con- 
stituent parts,  and  consider  His  offices  as  prophet, 
priest,  and  king. 

Of  the  three,  that  of  priest  is  the  most  beyond 
us,  and  that  of  prophet  comes  nearest  to  us,  while 
that  of  king,  immeasurably  above  us  in  one  sense, 
is  yet  brought  near  to  us  in  another.  In  His 
glorious  work  of  reconciling  God  and  man  by  the 
sacrifice  of  the  cross,  we  know  that  we  can  have  not 
the  vestige  of  a  share.  In  the  majesty  of  His  royal 
power,  in  the  charm  of  His  miraculous  works,  in  the 
sublime  authority  that  by  a  word  ruled  the  waves 
and  scattered  devils,  that  by  a  mere  exercise  of  will 
controlled  the  forces  of  disease,  and  made  even 
death  and  the  grave  surrender  their  victims,  Jesus 
stands  immeasurably  above  us.  It  is  as  a  teacher 
that  we  may  follow  Him  most  fully.  We  may  take 
up  the  truths  which  He  revealed  and  communicate 
them  to  others.  We  may  study  and  in  a  sense 
follow  His  method  of  getting  into  the  human  heart. 
We  may  go  forth  by  the  footsteps  of  His  flock,  and 
feed  our  kids  beside  the  Great  Shepherd's  tent. 
But  even  as  a  teacher  He  occupies  heights  that  we 
can  never  reach.  Never  man  spake  as  this  man. 
No  eye  ever  penetrated  like  His  into  the  ways  of 
God,  and  no  tongue  ever  taught  such  lessons  of  truth 
and  life.  We  are  dazzled  by  His  person  as  the  first 
disciples  were:  "We  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory 
as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace 
and  truth." 

Besides  this,  we  may  also  enter  in  some  measure 
into  His  kingly  office.  Our  work  in  the  ministry  is 
much  more  than  the  mere  teacher's.     We  fail  wholly 


8  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

unless  we  persuade  as  well  as  teach.  As  teachers 
we  need  the  prophetic  gift,  but  as  persuaders  we 
must  be  kings.  And  the  power  which  we  need  for 
this  kingly  function  is  likewise  communicable,  and 
may  be  enjoyed  by  those  who  earnestly  seek  it. 
"  Ye  shall  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  come  upon  you."  It  is  given  to  earnest  men,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  to  wield  the 
sceptre  of  spiritual  influence.  It  is  not  only  in  the 
world  to  come  but  in  a  sense  in  this  world  too  that 
the  promise  is  fulfilled — "  To  him  that  overcometh 
will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  on  my  throne."  Even 
DOW  we  may  adore  Him  who  hath  made  us  kings 
and  priests  to  God.  It  is  but  seldom,  and  in  the 
infancy  of  His  Church,  that  the  power  of  wielding 
the  forces  of  nature  supernaturally,  and  turning 
them  to  the  purposes  of  the  gospel,  has  been  given 
to  His  servants ;  but  no  faithful  minister  has  ever 
been  left  without  power  in  the  realm  of  spirit, — 
without  the  power  that  controls  the  movements  of* 
the  human  soul,  and  turns  it  to  God.  To  enjoy  this 
power  of  turning  hearts  to  God  should  be  the 
supreme  ambition  of  the  Christian  minister;  to 
exercise  it  his  supreme  delight.  A  ministry  pitched 
on  any  lower  key  is  defective  in  its  highest  element, 
and  unworthy  of  the  true  servant  of  Jesus  Christ. 

It  being  thus  clear  that  Christian  ministers  are 
not  merely  at  liberty  but  are  bound  to  follow  Christ 
by  continuing  according  to  their  gifts  the  work 
which  He  began,  and,  as  far  as  may  be,  the  methods 
which  He  practised,  we  have  next  to  inquire,  Wliat 
was  our  Lord's  own  conception  of  that  work — the 
work  for  which  He  came  into  the  world,  and  for 


HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  9 

which  He  lived,  died,  and  rose  again  ?  The  more 
definitely  we  apprehend  His  work  as  He  viewed  it, 
the  more  clearly  shall  we  see  what  is  incumbent  on 
those  who  follow  Him. 

1.  As  it  presented  itself  in  its  broadest  aspect  to 
the  mind  of  Christ,  His  work  was  that  of  the  Old 
Testament  Messiah.  He  found  innumerable  things 
written  in  the  law,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in  the 
psalms,  concerning  Himself.  In  the  main,  the  work 
of  the  Messiah  was  to  be  a  work  of  restoration.  A 
great  quarrel  had  to  be  settled,  a  rebellion  had  to  be 
quelled,  a  ruin  had  to  be  built  up,  a  kingdom  had 
to  be  established,  disorder  and  misery  had  to  be 
replaced  by  peace,  prosperity,  and  all  manner  of 
blessing.  "  In  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
families  of  the  earth  be  blessed."  It  was  not  a 
work  that  was  to  carry  blessing  to  one  nation  only, 
but  to  all  the  world.  This  is  the  most  outstanding 
idea  of  His  work  that  our  Lord  would  gather  from 
the  Old  Testament.  He  was  to  scatter  blessing 
far  and  near.  The  eyes  of  the  blind  were  to  be 
opened,  and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  unstopped.  The 
lame  man  was  to  leap  as  a  hart,  and  the  tongue  of 
the  dumb  was  to  sing.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God 
was  to  be  upou  Him,  because  the  Lord  anointed 
Him  to  preach  glad  tidings  to  the  meek.  He  sent 
Him  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim 
liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison 
to  them  that  were  bound. 

Thus  the  most  prominent  feature  of  Messiah's 
work  was  to  be  that  of  benediction.  Men  were  to 
be  blessed  in  Him;  all  nations  were  to  call  Him 
blessed.     Now,  for  a  work  of  this  kind  the  appro- 


10  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

priate  spirit  was  that  of  cheerfulness  and  radiant 
love.  And,  corresponding  to  this  conception  of  the 
Messiah's  work,  this  was  Christ's  prevailing  spirit. 
Although  to  qualify  Him  for  spreading  these  bless- 
ings among  sinners,  it  behoved  Him  to  suffer  much, 
He  did  not  allow  this  necessity  to  interfere  with 
the  habitual  serenity  and  cheerfulness  of  His  spirit. 
Essentially  He  was  a  bringer  of  good  news  to  men ; 
and  not  His  tongue  only,  but  His  eyes,  His  face.  His 
whole  appearance  and  manner,  habitually  preached 
this  gospel.  For  the  most  part,  Jesus  hid  His 
troubles  from  the  world.  Only  three  of  the  chosen 
twelve  were  allowed  to  go  with  Him  to  Gethsemaue, 
where  waves  of  such  dreadful  anguish  were  to  go 
Him. 

It  is  in  the  same  serene  and  cheerful  spirit  that 
the  work  of  the  gospel  is  to  be  conducted  still.  What- 
ever sorrows,  public  or  private,  the  ministers  of  Christ 
have  to  bear,  it  becomes  them  like  Him  to  bear  them 
in  secret,  to  hide  them  as  far  as  possible  from  the 
world,  and  even  from  the  Church.  Men  of  sorrow- 
ful spirit  and  gloomy  countenance  are  not  the  men 
to  proclaim  good  news,  or  win  mankind  to  belief 
in  them.  Even  experienced  Christians  do  not  like 
a  lugubrious  minister,  and  to  children  and  the 
ignorant  he  is  positively  repulsive.  The  great  evan- 
gelists of  the  Church  have  usually  been  men  of 
radiant  nature,  realising  the  blessedness  of  the 
Gospel,  and  showing  its  influence  in  their  happy 
looks  and  cheerful  tones.  No  doubt  there  are  many 
things,  both  in  their  own  hearts  and  in  the  world 
around  them,  fitted  to  depress  God's  servants.  But 
if  our  Lord  could  for  the  most  part  hide  His  sorrows 


HIS  mNISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  1 1 

from  the  world,  so  may  tliey.  If  in  His  ordinary 
intercourse  with  men  He  could  maintain  the  cheer- 
ful tone  that  became  the  bearer  of  good  tidino;s,  so 
may  they.  The  words  of  the  fiftieth  chapter  of  Isaiah 
are  the  Master's  words  to  all  His  servants :  "  Who 
is  among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth 
the  voice  of  his  servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness 
and  hath  no  light ;  let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  aiid  stay  iipon  his  God." 

But  on  the  very  surface  of  the  Old  Testament  it 
was  not  less  clearly  revealed  that  the  career  of 
Messiah,  while  it  would  be  one  of  beneficence, 
would  likewise  be  one  of  terrible  conflict.  He 
would  not  be  suffered  to  shed  His  blessings  quietly 
on  the  world  as  the  summer  sun  sheds  his  beams 
on  the  earth.  Deadly  opposition  would  meet  Him 
at  every  point.  The  prophecy  in  Eden  would  come 
true — the  serpent  would  bruise  His  heel.  Psalms 
like  the  second  reveal  confederate  hosts  striving  to 
break  His  bands  asunder,  and  cast  away  His  cords. 
In  Isaiah,  He  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter, 
and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb.  Ter- 
rible wails  rise  from  His  lips  in  psalms  like  the 
twenty-second  and  the  sixty-ninth.  From  the  very 
beginning,  Christ  must  have  been  conscious  that 
His  public  life  would  be  a  continuous  battle.  It 
was  not  only  the  cold  worldliness  and  wickedness 
of  the  human  heart  He  would  have  to  encounter, 
but  all  the  active  forces  of  evil.  Satan,  His  personal 
foe,  would  be  laying  snares  for  Him  at  every  point. 
Men  and  devils,  clergy  and  laity,  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees,  scribes  and  lawyers,  would  be  found  bending 
their  utmost  energies  on  every  side  to  crush  Him. 


12  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

Ere  He  entered  on  His  public  work,  He  must  have 
gathered  all  this  from  the  Old  Testament  pictures 
of  Messiah.  Usually  beneficence  commends  itself; 
philanthropy  is  popular  and  carries  all  before  it ;  bub 
it  was  not  to  do  so  in  the  case  of  Christ.  Supreme 
beneficence  was  to  be  met  by  supreme  malevolence. 
It  is  wonderful  that  all  this  should  have  failed  to 
discompose  His  spirit,  to  drive  serenity  from  His 
heart,  or  cheerfulness  from  His  face.  But,  from  the 
beginning  He  must  have  been  bracing  Himself  for 
these  conflicts — acting  out  the  prophetic  resolution 
— "The  Lord  God  will  help  me,  therefore  shall  I 
not  be  confounded;  therefore  have  I  set  my  face 
like  a  flint,  and  I  know  that  I  shall  not  be  ashamed  " 
(Isa.  1.  7). 

Here  then  was  Christ's  conception  of  His  work,  as 
derived  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures — a  blessed 
work  of  restoration  to  be  carried  on  against  the 
fiercest  assaults  of  all  the  powers  of  darkness.  Few 
things  could  be  more  difficult.  Benevolence  does 
not  readily  harmonise  with  fighting,  and  fighting  does 
not  foster  benevolence.  Yet  in  Jesus  the  benevolent 
spirit  remains  unchilled  by  all  the  machinations  of 
evil  with  which  He  has  to  contend.  And  the  spirit 
of  high  resolve  and  fearless  exposure  to  assault 
acquires  strength  and  firmness  from  the  feeling 
that  it  is  demanded  by  the  loving  errand  on  which 
He  has  come.  Jesus  is  at  once  the  lion  and  the 
lamb.  But  His  courage  is  in  vital  connection  with 
His  compassion.  He  is  rooted  and  built  up  in  love. 
Nothing  higher  can  be  proposed  for  the  imitation  of 
His  servants.  We  have  to  combine  the  attitude  of 
the  warrior  and  the  spirit  of  the  lover.     The  spirit 


HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  1 3 

of  love  must  dominate  our  whole  procedure,  and 
reign  unchilled  in  all  our  conflicts  for  truth,  meek- 
ness, and  righteousness. 

2.  A  more  definite  view  of  the  purpose  for  which 
Christ  felt  that  He  had  come  may  be  obtained  from 
studying  His  sayings  that  begin  with  the  formula : 
"  The  Son  of  man  is  come,"  or  "  I  am  come."  "  The 
Son  of  man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
is  lost."  "  I  am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous,  but 
sinners  to  repentance."  "  I  am  come  that  they 
might  have  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly."  "  I  am  come  a  light  into  the  world 
that  whoso  believeth  on  me  should  not  abide  in 
darkness."  "  The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his 
life  a  ransom  for  many."  Life,  light,  repentance, 
renewal,  salvation,  are  among  the  blessings  which 
Christ  has  come  to  bestow.  The  reference  is  very 
plain  in  such  passages  to  the  needy  condition  of 
men,  as  Christ  finds  them.  They  are  not  righteous 
but  sinful ;  not  whole  but  sick ;  not  penitent  but 
hardened ;  not  seeing  but  blind ;  not  living  but 
dead.  For  all  these  wants  Christ  has  to  furnish  the 
supply.  To  remove  their  guilt.  He  gives  His  life  a 
ransom;  to  remove  their  sickness,  He  sends  His 
word  and  heals  them ;  to  soften  their  hard  hearts 
He  gives  them  by  His  Spirit  the  new  heart  and  the 
right  spirit;  for  sight  He  anoints  their  eyes  with 
the  eye-salve  of  the  gospel;  and  for  life  He  calls 
to  them,  as  He  called  in  the  graveyard  of  Bethany : 
"  Lazarus,  come  forth." 

But  where  are  these  and  all  similar  blessings  to 
be   found?      It  was    Christ's   clear   and   emphatic 


14  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

teaching  that  all  are  stored  in  His  own  person. 
Why  was  He  so  eager  that  men  should  believe  on 
Him  ?  !N'ot,  certainly,  for  any  personal  reason ;  but 
mainly  because  these  blessings  were  in  Him,  and 
unless  men  believed  on  Him  they  could  not  obtain 
them.  "  This  is  the  record,  that  God  hath  given  to 
us  eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  his  Son."  It  is 
obvious,  however,  that  Christ's  servants  are  in  a 
very  different  relation  to  these  blessings  from  that 
in  which  Christ  stood  to  them  Himself.  We  are  not 
priests.  Our  Master  has  not  handed  over  to  us  the 
store  of  grace,  nor  given  us  the  right  to  dole  it  out 
as  we  may  think  right,  to  those  who  come  to  us 
seeking  the  heavenly  gift.  The  Church  is  not  a 
reservoir,  filled  with  the  merit  of  Christ,  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  priest  for  such  as  he  may  deem  worthy  to 
receive  it.  This  dogma  is  a  friglitful  perversion  of  the 
truth.  What  then  ?  The  work  of  Christ,  by  which 
the  fountain  of  life  was  opened,  has  to  be  carried 
out  by  His  ministers  still.  The  Church  has  to  turn 
to  account  the  glorious  merit  of  Christ,  and  get  men 
to  share  it.  How  is  this  to  be  done  ?  In  the  first 
place,  she  must  enlighten  men  in  the  knowledge  of 
Christ ;  and  in  the  next  place,  get  them  drawn  into 
personal  union  with  Him.  She  must  first  show 
them  how  it  hath  pleased  the  Father  that  in  Him 
all  fulness  should  dwell ;  and  next,  urge  them  in  the 
strength  of  God  to  the  act  of  faith — to  that  personal 
committal  of  themselves  as  sinners  to  Him,  and 
that  personal  acceptance  of  Him  as  a  Saviour  for 
them,  through  which  all  His  blessings  come.  We 
must  seek  that  all  our  teaching  and  all  our  ordi- 
nances may  become  channels  by  which  the  grace 


HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  1:5 

of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  flow  to  men.  As 
Jesus  sought  to  draw  men  to  Himself,  we  must 
seek  to  send  them  to  Him.  The  sense  of  His 
supreme  and  infinite  value  must  be  at  the  heart  of 
all  we  do.  It  is  a  good  sign  of  a  ministry  when  it 
begins  with  a  profound  sense  of  the  truth  that  from 
Him  all  saving  blessing  comes,  when  Jesus  appears 
like  the  Sun  in  the  firmament,  the  one  great  source 
of  blessing  to  sinful  men. 

3.  A  third  element  of  our  Lord's  conception  of 
His  work  on  earth  is  obtained  from  His  references  to 
"  the  kingdom  "  which  He  came  to  set  up.  In  forms 
very  manifold  He  dwelt  on  this  idea.  His  ministry 
in  Galilee  began  with  the  call:  "Eepent,  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  In  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  the  manifesto  of  the  kingdom.  He  pro- 
claimed the  duty  of  seeking  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  His  righteousness,  and  He  protested  that 
the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  did 
not  come  up  to  the  standard  of  that  kingdom.  To 
Nicodemus  he  taught,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again, 
he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  The  gospel 
which  He  is  said  to  have  preached  is  called  "the 
gospel  of  the  kingdom"  (Matt.  iv.  23).  Many  of 
the  parables  indicated  resemblances  in  earthly 
things  to  features  of  the  kingdom.  When  Jesus 
was  asked  by  Pilate,  Art  thou  a  king  then?  He 
owned  it;  but  His  kingdom,  He  said,  was  not  of 
this  world.  It  is  thus  obvious  that  the  establish- 
ment of  a  very  glorious  kingdom  was  to  be  the 
result  of  His  earthly  work.  Not  that  this  was  to  be 
accomplished  at  once.  Only  when  the  Son  of  Man 
should  come  in  His  glory  and  all  the  angels  with  Him 


16  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

would  His  people,  in  the  fullest  sense,  inherit  the 
kingdom  prepared  for  them  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world. 

Meanwhile,  men  were  to  be  invited  into  the 
kingdom,  prepared  for  it,  and  in  a  sense  incorpo- 
rated with  it.  They  were  to  receive  its  righteous- 
ness, to  be  taught  its  laws,  to  acquire  its  spirit,  to 
be  trained  to  its  service,  and  all  this  through  being 
first  brought  into  a  right  relation  and  attitude  to  its 
Head.  To  lay  the  foundations  of  this  kingdom, 
overcome  its  enemies,  transform  men  and  women  of 
the  fallen  race  of  Adam  into  its  willing  and  loyal 
subjects,  and  finally  complete  it  in  its  purity  and 
glory,  were  constantly  referred  to  as  among  the 
purposes  for  which  Jesus  was  manifested  among 
men. 

Let  us  try  to  get  a  more  definite  understanding 
of  what  this  implied.  Let  us  take  the  expression, 
"  Jesus  went  about  preaching  the  gos'pel  of  the  king- 
dom^' (Matt.  ix.  35).  Tliis  is  a  more  complete  and 
a  more  significant  phrase  than  merely  preaching 
the  gospel.  The  good  news  which  Christ  preached 
found  its  highest  and  fullest  development  in  the 
idea  of  the  kingdom.  The  phrase  goes  further  than 
the  angels'  song — "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on 
earth  peace,  good- will  to  men."  That  proclamation 
did  not  necessarily  imply  more  than  an  economy  of 
blessing  to  individual  men.  But  the  idea  of  Christ's 
kingdom  is  that  of  a  community,  of  which  the  mem- 
bers, besides  being  blessed  by  Him  individually,  are 
placed  in  new  relations  to  one  another,  out  of  which 
spring  numberless  developments  of  interest  and 
sympathy,  of  character  and  enjoyment,  of  activity 


HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  17 

and  progress,  greatly  amplifying  their  life  and 
service,  and  replenishing  all  with  a  manifold  glory. 

In  the  kingdom,  purer  affections  and  sympathies 
bind  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  master 
and  servant,  subject  and  ruler,  friends  and  neigh- 
bours. In  the  kingdom,  the  common  worship  and 
active  service  of  God  give  rise  to  new  relations 
greatly  increasing  the  interest,  the  enjoyment,  and 
the  profitableness  of  life.  Hearts  are  drawn  to  one 
another  in  united  worship  and  work  for  the  Lord. 
Sympathy  is  drawn  out  toward  the  whole  world, 
and  efforts  are  called  forth  for  its  highest  good. 
In  the  common  business  of  life,  selfishness  gives 
place  to  brotherly  interest  and  regard.  The  greatest 
happiness  of  the  greatest  number  is  raised  from  a 
mere  philosophical  formula  into  a  high  principle  of 
life. 

All  this,  and  far  more  than  this,  was  embraced  in 
Christ's  idea  of  the  kingdom.  Human  life  is  but 
a  poor  thing  in  its  mere  individuality.  It  is  in 
its  social  relations  and  bearings  that  its  full  capa- 
city is  found,  both  of  action  and  of  enjoyment.  To 
develop  these  relations  to  the  full,  Godward  and 
manward  both,  and  make  all  of  them  means  of  high 
benefit  and  pure  enjoyment  in  all  their  multifarious 
bearings,  is  embraced  in  the  plan.  But  such  a 
consummation  is  not  the  achievement  of  a^  day. 
The  movement  towards  it  goes  on,  sometimes  more 
actively,  sometimes  more  languidly.  Sanballat  the 
Horonite  and  Tobiah  the  Ammonite  are  continually 
obstructing  it.  Indifference  often  reigns  within — 
while  the  bridegroom  tarries,  the  virgins  slumber 
and  sleep.     But  the  setting  up  of  this  kingdom  of 

B 


18  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

Christ  in  all  its  glory  is  the  great  certainty  of  the 
future.  And  we  who  are  called  to  continue  His 
work  should  often  have  this  consummation  in  our 
view.  The  fact  that  nothing  short  of  this  is  the 
goal  of  our  enterprise  should  draw  out  our  energies 
to  the  very  utmost.  In  so  vast  a  work  we  ought 
to  seek  the  co-operation  of  numberless  fellow- 
workers.  What  a  reproof  does  this  grand  view 
of  Christ's  administer  to  our  low  aims,  our  feeble 
purposes,  and  indolent  endeavours !  How  should 
the  fact  that  this  enterprise  is  committed  to  us 
throw  us  on  the  infinite  power  and  resources  of 
our  Great  Master ! 

4.  One  other  remark  is  essential  to  a  right  under- 
standing of  Christ's  conception  of  His  work  among 
men.  We  have  spoken  of  His  idea  of  the  kingdom, 
and  the  vastness  of  the  transformation  of  human 
society  which  it  involves.  The  manner  in  which 
this  kingdom  was  to  be  established  must  have  been 
a  matter  of  great  importance.  Did  Christ  give  any 
instructions  as  to  the  way  of  setting  it  up  ?  It  is 
said  to  be  a  characteristic  of  the  greatest  minds  that 
while  the  schemes  they  form  are  vast  and  compre- 
hensive, they  are  marked  at  the  same  time  by  great 
attention  to  details.  No  scheme  could  have  been 
vaster  than  that  of  Christ's  kingdom,  yet  the  work- 
ing of  it  out  was  to  be  matter  of  minute  detail.  Each 
soul  must  see  the  Divine  light,  must  respond  to 
the  Divine  voice.  The  building  up  of  a  coral  island, 
through  particle  after  particle  secreted  by  the  insect, 
is  hardly  a  minuter  operation  than  the  building 
up  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  by  detailed  dealings 
with  individual  souls.     It  has  often  been  remarked 


HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE.  19 

that  compared  with  other  ministries  that  of  Christ 
was  not  remarkably  fruitful  in  conversions.  If  the 
crowds  that  followed  the  Baptist  gathered  also 
round  Christ,  it  was  not  to  manifest  the  same 
tokens  of  wholesale  impression,  or  even  to  give  the 
same  evidence  of  a  desire  to  be  changed.  But  this 
very  fact  fixes  our  view  the  more  on  tliooo  dealings 
with  individuals  which  formed  so  marked  a  feature 
of  Christ's  ministry.  He  showed  no  morbid  desire 
to  be  followed  by  crowds.  In  instructing  Mcodemus 
in  the  doctrine  of  regeneration  and  redemption,  or 
the  woman  of  Samaria  in  the  gift  of  living  water 
and  the  duty  of  spiritual  worship.  He  showed  him- 
self as  ready  to  take  pains  with  His  one  hearer,  and 
as  much  pleased  with  the  result,  as  if  thousands  had 
been  hanging  on  His  lips. 

In  this  way  He  taught  us  that  the  building  up  of 
His  kingdom  must  depend  on  individual  conviction 
and  individual  faith.  It  was  not  by  royal  edicts 
like  those  of  Hezekiah  and  Josiah,  requiring  the 
people  to  do  this  or  that  in  the  worship  of  God,  on 
pain  of  civil  penalties,  that  the  masses  were  to  be 
converted ;  but  by  very  earnest  work  in  the  case  of 
individuals,  whose  example  and  influence  might 
thereafter  spread  to  the  many.  Let  a  spiritual  move- 
ment be  once  started  on  the  basis  of  individual  con- 
viction and  faith,  and  it  may  thereafter  spread  fast 
enough  with  all  safety  among  the  masses.  This  in- 
deed was  the  character  of  the  movement  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost.  Thousands  were  embraced  in  that 
revolution,  but  in  every  case  there  was  individual 
conviction  and  individual  faith.  Each  heart  was 
drawn  to  the  Saviour  by  the  pressure  of  its  own 


20  HIS  MINISTRY  AS  AN  EXAMPLE. 

necessities  and  ardent  cravings ;  a  living  faith   in 
Him  brought  its  peace  and  life. 

If  we  are  to  be  fellow-workers  with  Christ,  we 
must  go  to  work  in  a  similar  way.  No  process 
under  the  sun  can  supply  the  place  of  individual 
conviction  and  personal  union  to  Christ.  There 
may  be  temptations  to  us  to  get  masses  of  men 
drawn  by  some  means  or  other  within  the  pale  of 
the  visible  Church,  and  some  may  mistake  this  for 
success.  In  the  middle  ages  kings  would  sometimes 
determine  for  their  people  that  they  should  become 
Christian,  and  hordes  of  ignorant  and  godless  men 
would  pass  nominally  by  baptism  into  the  Christian 
Church.  In  modern  times  it  has  often  been  thought 
a  great  benefit  to  have  some  strong  social  power  on 
the  side  of  Christianity,  in  order  to  draw  to  it  many 
that  would  otherwise  pass  it  by.  But  too  often 
these  methods  have  only  discredited  Christ's  own 
way  of  building  up  His  Church — by  personal  con- 
viction. His  method  is  slow  and  laborious;  it 
demands  much  consecration,  patience,  and  prayer ; 
but  it  is  the  only  method  that  truly  effects  the  great 
end.  The  cause  of  Christian  progress  has  often 
been  kept  back  by  methods  that  promise  a  large 
agglomeration  of  adherents,  but  dispense  with  the 
one  indispensable  element.  The  Church,  and  every 
separate  section  of  it,  has  always  been  most  power- 
ful when  Christ's  own  way  has  been  followed,  and 
His  ministers  have  burned  with  the  desire  to  make 
His  Church  a  community  of  living  men  and  women, 
who  have  "  been  pricked  in  their  hearts,"  and  in 
their  earnestness  have  asked,  "  Men  and  brethren, 
what  shall  we  do  ?  " 


CHAPTER  II. 

PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY. 

That  our  Lord  should  have  been  trained  for  His 
work  at  such  a  place  as  Nazareth  is  certainly  a 
thing  unlooked  for.  "  My  ways  are  not  your  ways, 
neither  are  your  thoughts  my  thoughts,  saith  the 
Lord."  If  we  desired  a  more  than  usually  striking 
illustration  of  these  words,  might  we  not  find  it  in 
the  fact  that  the  place  selected  for  the  Incarnate 
Son  of  God  to  prepare  for  His  unexampled  work 
was  a  village  proverbial  for  its  roughness  and 
wickedness  ?  Besides  the  proverb  (which  spoke 
volumes),  "  Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of 
Nazareth  ?"  we  have  in  illustration  of  the  character 
of  the  place  the  incident  that  occurred  in  our 
Lord's  early  ministry,  when  the  people  dragged 
Him  to  the  brow  of  the  hill  intending  to  hurl  Him 
over  the  precipice.  Who  could  have  supposed  that 
among  so  rude  and  wicked  a  people  the  gentlest 
and  tenderest  heart  the  world  ever  knew  should 
have  attained  its  strength  and  beauty — that  amid 
the  pestilential  atmosphere  of  such  a  place  the  Eose 
of  Sharon  should  have  become  so  fragrant,  and  the 
lily  of  the  valleys  so  sweet?  Even  in  the  car- 
penter's home,  if  we  except  Mary  and  her  husband, 


22  PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY. 

Jesus  could  not  have  found  much  that  was  con- 
genial He  seems  to  have  made  no  impression  on 
the  outer  world.  No  curiosity  was  raised  as  to  His 
future  career.  Till  about  the  time  of  the  crucifixion 
even  His  brethren  did  not  believe  on  Him.  We 
may  fancy  Him  indeed  often  sitting  with  His 
mother  reading  the  Scriptures  and  speaking  of  the 
things  of  the  kingdom  of  God;  but  we  have  no 
evidence  that  He  ever  roamed  the  hills  with  a  single 
like-minded  companion,  or  knew  the  joy  of  friend- 
ship and  spiritual  fellowship  with  any  one  of  the 
same  years  and  occupation  as  Himself. 

It  must  have  been  mainly  in  solitude,  therefore, 
that  He  pursued  His  studies  for  the  ministry  during 
His  curriculum  of  thirty  years.  He  had  three 
principal  text-books — all  of  which  He  mastered 
thoroughly — the  Old  Testament,  the  book  of  nature, 
and  the  human  heart.  Many  things  in  His  life 
show  how  thoroughly  He  penetrated  to  the  very 
heart  and  core  of  the  first.  The  book  of  nature  was 
interesting  chiefly  for  the  analogies  which  it  pre- 
sented to  the  operations  of  God  in  a  higher  and  more 
spiritual  sphere.  The  third  book — the  human  heart 
— must  have  been  a  painful  but  very  interesting 
study.  In  this  department  of  theological  learning 
He  was  like  a  physician  studying  disease,  studying 
every  form  and  phase  of  morbid  action,  that  He 
might  the  better  know  how  to  deal  with  it.  And 
the  rough,  unrestrained  boors  of  Nazareth  would 
present  him  with  ample  material  for  this  study. 
Not  that  the  morbid  aspects  of  the  human  heart 
would  engross  all  His  attention.  He  would  study 
the  openings  to  the  soul  of  man,  the  ways  of  enter- 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY.  23 

ing  it,  and  interesting  it,  and  moulding  it,  and 
turning  it.  He  would  become  acquainted  v^ith  its 
various  moods,  sometimes  cheerful,  sometimes  dark  ; 
in  times  of  prosperity  and  in  days  of  trouble ;  now- 
tempted  on  this  side  and  now  on  that ;  now  drink- 
ing greedily  from  worldly  cisterns,  now  disgusted 
and  yearning  for  something  better.  He  would 
observe  how  the  children  of  this  world  were  in  their 
generation  wiser  than  the  children  of  light;  yet 
how,  all  through,  human  nature  had  always  one 
dark  feature — resistance  to  the  will  of  God.  He 
would  understand  the  difficulty  of  the  task  of  the 
prophets  as  they  struggled  against  this  desperate 
tendency — a  task  which,  after  all,  but  dimly  fore- 
shadowed that  which  He  had  himself  undertaken. 
For  the  most  part  things  in  Nazareth  were  the  exact 
opposite  of  His  model.  Possibly  His  first  great 
Galilean  discourse — the  Sermon  on  the  Mount — 
was  just  Nazareth  reversed — Nazareth  the  negative, 
and  the  sermon  the  positive.  But  the  apprehension 
of  what  ought  to  be  was  the  easiest  part  of  His  task. 
How  to  make  His  ideal  a  reality,  how  to  establish 
a  real  kingdom  after  His  pattern,  that  was  an  under- 
taking which  required  all  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
heaven — hie  labor,  hoc  opus  est. 

Where  are  we  to  date  the  conscious  commence- 
ment of  Christ's  ministry?  How  was  it  that  He 
grew  in  wisdom,  and  in  favour  with  God  and  man  ? 
In  dealing  with  such  questions  we  are  met  by  in- 
superable barriers.  Few  things  are  more  wonderful 
than  the  silence  of  the  Gospels  respecting  the 
infancy  and  youth  of  Jesus.  If  there  were  no  other 
way  to  refute  the  mythical  theory  of  the  Gospels, 


24  PKEPAEATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY. 

their  silence  as  to  the  infancy  would  be  enough. 
When,  at  a  later  period  in  the  history  of  the  Church, 
men's  imaginations  did  take  a  licence,  and  did  sur- 
round the  life  with  the  creations  of  fancy,  it  was 
chiefly  to  the  infancy  that  these  myths  were  attached. 
It  is  very  notable  how  rigidly  the  four  Evangelists 
confined  themselves  to  the  public  life.  They  felt 
that  their  business  lay  with  that  portion  of  time 
which  was  embraced  between  the  baptism  by  John 
and  the  day  when  He  was  taken  up.  Whatever 
may  be  recorded  of  earlier  occurrences  is  recorded 
either  as  showing  the  fulfilment  of  Scripture,  or  as 
bearing  on  the  public  life  of  Jesus.  So  completely 
have  the  details  of  His  boyhood  been  passed  over, 
that  we  cannot  but  conclude  that  there  was  a  Divine 
purpose  in  the  silence.  The  whole  subject  is  so 
mysterious, — the  development  of  the  finite  human 
nature  in  personal  union  with  the  infinite  Divine 
nature, — that  if  details  had  been  given  they  might 
have  left  a  wrong  impression.  One  of  the  most 
remarkable  things  about  the  life  of  Christ,  as  pre- 
sented in  the  Gospels,  is,  that  while  we  see  the 
human  in  every  act  and  word,  we  are  never  allowed 
to  lose  sight  of  the  Divine.  Possibly  this  effect 
might  not  have  been  so  complete  had  details  of  His 
childhood  been  given.  At  all  events,  it  has  pleased 
God,  when  He  brings  His  Son  fully  before  the 
world,  to  introduce  Him  in  the  maturity  of  His  man- 
hood, in  the  fulness  of  His  supernatural  power, 
and  with  the  fullest  consciousness  of  His  work  as 
Messiah. 

It  may  be  noted,  however,  that  the  few  things 
that  are  recorded  of  the  early  life  of  Christ,  between 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY.  25 

His  infancy  and  His  public  entrance  on  His  work, 
bear  solely  on  His  preparation  for  His  ministry. 
Three  facts  are  preserved  to  us :  first,  the  incident 
with  the  doctors  in  the  temple,  and  especially  His 
reply  to  His  mother's  question;  next.  His  being 
subject  to  His  parents  during  His  residence  with 
them  at  Nazareth  ;  and  lastly,  his  presenting  Him- 
self to  the  Baptist,  and  insisting  on  His  being 
baptized  by  him,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrance 
of  John. 

These  three  facts  throw  an  interesting  light  on 
the  discipline  of  subjection  which  our  Lord  came 
under,  and  the  variety  and  completeness  of  that 
discipline.  We  read,  that  "  though  he  was  a  Son, 
yet  learned  he  obedience  by  the  things  which  he 
suffered;"  and  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  and  other 
scenes  of  His  public  life,  show  to  what  an  unpre- 
cedented length  that  habit  of  obedience  was  carried. 
In  His  answer  to  His  mother  in  the  Temple  we  see 
the  spirit  of  subjection  to  the  will  of  His  heavenly 
Father :  "  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business^'* 
In  His  obedience  to  Joseph  and  ]\Iary  at  Nazareth, 
the  discipline  of  subjection  to  lawful  human 
authority;  and  in  His  answer  to  John,  "Suffer  it 
to  be  so  now,  for  thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all 
righteousness,"  the  discipline  of  subjection  to  the 
requirements  of  His  official  position,  as  the  Eighteous 
One,  or  representative  of  righteousness,  standing  in 
the  room  of  the  unrighteous.  In  this  habit  of  our 
Lord's  soul — His  subjection  to  law,  His  self-restraint. 
His  holy  self-surrender — there  is  much,  if  I  mistake 
not,  that  has  special  application  to  those  preparing 
for  His  public  service. 


26  PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY. 

1.  "Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my 
Father's  business?"  We  are  not  disposed  to  alter 
the  translation,  iv  To2<i  rov  Xlarpo?  fiov,  as  the 
revised  version  does,  "I  must  be  in  my  Father's 
house."  It  is  not  usual  to  denote  a  house  by  the 
plural  article,  nor  is  it  by  any  means  so  self-evident 
that  He  behoved  to  be  in  the  house,  as  that  He  be- 
hoved to  be  about  the  hicsiness  of  His  Father.  The 
question  has  been  asked,  Did  these  words  of  the 
child  indicate  a  full  consciousness  of  His  Messiah- 
ship  and  acquaintance  with  its  obligations?  In 
reply,  it  has  commonly  been  held,  that  while 
His  eager  questioning  of  the  doctors  would  seem 
to  denote  a  human  soul  seeking  more  light,  and 
not  therefore  fully  cognisant  of  the  reality.  His 
words  clearly  imply  two  things — consciousness 
of  a  peculiar  relation  to  God,  "my  Father;"  and 
consciousness  of  a  profound  obligation  arising 
from  that  relation,  "  1  must  be  about  my  Father's 
business." 

The  recurrence  of  that  formula,  Bel,  I  must  (it 
must),  on  many  occasions  of  His  public  ministry, 
in  connection  with  Messianic  obligations,  would 
seem  to  denote  that  already  these  obligations  had 
begun  to  be  apprehended.  Already  this  child  of 
twelve  has  come  to  see  that  His  life  must  be  a  life 
of  complete  consecration.  It  is  interesting  to  ob- 
serve that  it  is  the  sterner  view  of  duty  that  seems 
to  influence  the  child — /  mtcst.  In  other  parts  of 
Scripture  we  have  indications  that  this  was  not  His 
only  view  ;  that  doing  God's  will  was  a  joy  to  Him; 
that  His  soul  was  in  such  harmony  with  the  Father, 
that  the  irksome  view  of  duty  was  swallowed  up  by 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY.  27 

tlie  element  of  enjoyment  which  duty  brings  to  a 
holy  nature  :  "  I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  0  my  God." 
But,  strange  to  say,  at  the  early  age  of  twelve  we 
find  Him  rather  girding  Himself  for  what  is  trying 
and  irksome  to  human  nature ;  bringing  his  young 
soul  to  face  it ;  setting  Himself  to  it,  as  He  after- 
wards set  His  face  steadfastly  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem ; 
like  one  breasting  a  hill  or  bufi'eting  the  waves. 
Surely  in  this  the  lesson  for  us  is  too  obvious  to 
escape  notice.  Be  it  a  young  minister,  or  a  young 
person  in  any  sphere,  nothing  is  more  salutary  or 
more  promising  than  this  early  grappling  with 
labour;  no  flinching,  but  the  stern,  steady  "I 
MUST  "  of  duty.i 

2.  Next  we  have  our  Lord's  subjection  to  His 
parents — the  discipline  of  subordination  to  lawful 
human  authority.  He  went  down  to  Nazareth,  and 
was  subject  to  them.  This,  in  any  circumstances, 
would  be  an  instructive  fact  in  the  life  of  Christ ;  but 
it  has  special  significance  side  by  side  with  the  state- 
ment of  His  consecration  to  the  work  and  will  of 
His  heavenly  Father.  In  Him  duty  to  the  heavenly 
does  not  crush  out  duty  to  the  earthly.  A  great 
obligation  does  not  overlay  a  small.  The  divine  is 
not  allowed  to  eclipse  the  human.  It  is  not  merely 
in  the  august  presence  of  the  Eternal  Father  that 
the  spirit  of  self  is  humbled.  It  is  humbled  in  the 
presence  of  earthly  relations,  to  whom  it  is  fit  and 
proper  that  He  should  give  up  His  will,  even  though 
He  has  more  wisdom  than  they.    It  is  often  a  mark 

^  See  Olimpses  of  the  Inner  Life  of  our  Lord  (chaps,  i.  and  ii. 
"  His  Devotion  to  the  Father's  Work."  *«  His  Delight  in  the 
Father's  Wm"). 


28  PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY. 

of  human  infirmity  that  the  self-control  which  is 
exercised  on  great  occasions,  under  the  conscious 
overawing  presence  of  God,  is  lost  on  little  occa- 
sions, in  the  presence  of  men,  and  especially  in  the 
presence  of  one's  family.  In  the  case  of  Jesus,  we 
see  not  only  self-control,  but  self -subjection  carried 
out  uniformly  on  all  occasions.  No  doubt  the  con- 
ditions were  very  favourable.  Such  a  mother  as 
Mary,  and  such  a  step-father  as  Joseph,  might  well 
engage  His  obedience. 

3.  The  same  spirit  of  subjection  is  seen  in  His 
answer  to  John,  when  John  shrank  from  baptizing 
Him.  The  incident  is  full  of  manifold  beauty.  The 
meeting  of  the  law  and  the  gospel  is  singularly  grace- 
ful. As  has  been  said,  in  presence  of  Jesus  the  reprover 
of  the  Sanhedrim  and  of  Herod  lost  his  dauntless 
bearing.  For  the  first  time,  probably,  that  voice 
faltered,  as  it  said,  "  I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of 
thee,  and  comest  thou  to  me  V  Thus  the  splendour 
of  the  New  Testament  broke  forth  from  the  verge 
of  the  Old.  But  the  sternness  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment flashed  across  the  dawn  of  the  New,  when 
Christ  said,  "  Suffer  it  to  be  so  now ;  for  thus  it 
becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness."  There  is 
here  the  quintessence  of  courtesy.  Each  honours 
what  was  characteristic  of  the  other.  John  honours 
the  grace  embodied  in  Jesus;  Jesus  honours  the 
righteousness  represented  by  John.  The  soul  of 
chivalry  and  the  soul  of  duty  embrace  each  other. 

But  what  we  have  chiefly  to  do  with,  in  this 
incident,  is  the  evidence  of  the  spirit  of  subjection  in 
Jesus  to  the  requirements  of  an  official  position. 
The  expression,  "  Thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY.  29 

righteousness,"  is  brief  and  elliptical,  but  significant. 
There  is  an  obligation — not  expressed  by  so  strong 
a  term  as  that  used  in  the  Temple — Bei,,  I  must, 
because  in  that  case  he  was  dealing  with  a  fact, 
while  in  the  present  he  is  dealing  with  a  symbol ; 
therefore,  Trpiirov  ecrri,  a  milder  expression,  is  em- 
ployed :  "  it  becometh  us."  The  meaning  seems  to 
be,  that  it  was  becoming  that  He  should  undergo 
a  rite  expressive  of  the  duties  of  the  office  He  had 
undertaken,  in  which  He  must  show  Himself  to  be 
"  the  Lord  our  Eighteousness."  Personally,  He  was 
undefiled;  and  it  was  not  only  unnecessary  but 
unbecoming  that  He  should  receive  the  baptism  of 
repentance  to  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  But  as  the 
Just  who  was  to  stand  for  the  unjust,  as  the  Holy 
One  who  was  to  suffer  for  the  defiled,  it  became 
Him  to  receive  the  symbol  of  ablution.  It  was  a 
token  of  Christ's  subjecting  Himself  freely  and 
readily  to  everything  implied  in  His  becoming  the 
Champion  of  Righteousness,  and  the  Substitute  of 
the  unrighteous — a  sign  that  He  calmly  accepted 
that  untold  burden  of  toil,  humiliation,  and  suf- 
fering which  this  relation  implied.  It  is  a  very 
noble  word  with  which  to  begin  His  public  work. 
It  is  not  the  demands  of  mercy  merely  He  is  to 
fulfil,  but  the  demands  of  righteousness.  Mercy 
would  be  lenient,  but  righteousness  is  inexorable. 
The  motto  of  righteousness  is,  "Verily  thou  shalt 
not  go  hence  till  thou  hast  paid  the  uttermost 
farthing."  Jesus  deliberately  accepts  the  condition 
— "  It  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness." 
-  In  this  view  of  His  baptism,  the  threefold  testi- 
mony borne  to  Him,  immediately  after,  is  easily  un- 


30  PREPAUATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY. 

derstood — the  opening  of  the  heavens,  the  descent  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  voice  that  proclaimed  Him 
God's  beloved  Son,  in  whom  He  was  well  pleased. 
The  lesson  is  now  complete.  The  great  business  of 
Christ's  preparatory  course  has  been  to  strengthen 
and  mature  the  spirit  of  subjection.  When  that 
spirit  is  ripe,  the  Holy  Ghost  comes  on  Him,  in 
visible  form,  and  a  divine  testimony  is  borne  to 
Him  from  heaven.  Having  passed  through  all  His 
trials.  He  is  publicly  called  to  the  ministry.  How 
different  in  His  case  the  discipline  of  preparation 
from  that  of  some  in  whom  conceit  grows  steadily 
with  their  years  of  preparation,  ripening  at  ordina- 
tion into  full-fledged  self-sufficiency !  Or  from  the 
case  of  others,  in  whom  the  completion  of  prepara- 
tion marks  the  climax  of  a  self-seeking  spirit,  which 
would  have  the  sun,  moon,  and  eleven  stars  stand 
round  and  do  it  obeisance !  The  true  spirit  is  the 
spirit  of  subjection;  it  is  to  take  on  us  the  yoke 
which  Christ  took  on  Him,  and  learn  of  Him  who 
was  meek  and  lowly  in  heart.  May  this  spirit  of 
Jesus  be  indeed  the  spirit  of  every  aspirant  to  the 
ministry ;  may  it  ripen  day  by  day  as  the  close  of 
preparation  draws  near,  and  at  length  be  found  in 
such  completeness  as  to  be  signalised  by  a  descent 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  a  testimony  from  heaven 
that,  in  Christ,  each  one  is  God's  beloved  son,  in 
whom  He  is  well  pleased  ! 

One  would  have  thought  that  now  surely  Christ 
misht  have  beojun  His  work.  But  no.  It  seemed 
good  to  God  to  pass  Him  through  yet  another  ordeal. 
The  thirty  years  must  be  followed  by  the  forty 
days.     The  long  training  of  the  spirit  of  subjection 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY.  31 

which  has  become  so  ripe  must  be  followed  up  by 
a  threefold  temptation  in  the  wilderness.  It  is  a 
singular  and  unexpected  occurrence  at  the  very- 
commencement  of  the  ministry.  The  Spirit  that 
has  descended  on  Him  and  endued  Him  with  mea- 
sureless power,  does  not  lead  Him  to  the  battle- 
field, nor  to  the  harvest  field,  but  to  the  wilderness. 
He  leads  Him  out,  not  to  attack  the  enemy,  but  to 
sustain  the  enemy's  attacks  on  Him.  There  is  in 
this  something  contrary  to  our  expectations,  some- 
thing we  should  never  have  dreamt  of,  but  which  we 
feel  has  a  deep  significance,  attesting  the  reality  of 
the  narrative.  It  is  vain  to  represent  this  as  a 
myth  invented  by  the  writer  in  order  that  Jesus 
might  appear  as  great  as  Moses  or  Elijah,  both  of 
whom  had  their  forty  days  of  fasting.  The  obvious 
fact  is,  that  coming  in  as  it  does  at  this  particular 
time  in  Christ's  life,  it  is  a  humiliating  episode  rather 
than  a  glorifying  one.  It  is  an  episode  of  trial  more 
than  triumph.  Christ  does  triumph,  but  only  after  a 
painful  encounter.  He  vindicates  His  Sonship  after 
being  brought  into  the  lowest  and  most  humiliating 
state  of  want  human  beings  ever  knew.  It  seemed 
as  if  God  deemed  it  right  to  expose  Him  to  a  new 
ordeal,  in  order  that  still  further  He  might  learn 
obedience  by  the  things  which  He  suffered. 

Let  us  try,  then,  to  realise  the  position  of  Jesus 
when,  after  His  baptism,  the  heavens  were  opened, 
the  Spirit  descended  on  Him  in  visible  form,  and  a 
testimony  was  borne  to  Him  :  "  This  is  my  beloved 
Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  It  was  a  very 
glorious  position  ;  but  if  Jesus  had  been  but  a  man, 
it  would  have  been  full  of  peril.     Let  us  observe 


32  PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY. 

wherein  to  a  mere  man  the  peril  lay.  First,  it  was 
the  crowning  of  a  long  process — the  triumph,  openly 
proclaimed,  of  a  life-long  strain,  liable  therefore  to  be 
followed  by  a  reaction,  like  that  which  we  some- 
times see  on  the  part  of  a  student  after  passing  a 
hard  examination,  or  a  young  communicant  after 
receiving  the  communion.  Again,  Jesus  was  now 
invested  with  new  and  very  remarkable  powers. 
The  Holy  Spirit  came  down  on  Him  in  a  bodily 
shape,  and  His  Sonship  was  proclaimed  by  a  voice 
from  heaven.  It  is  likely  that  this  visible  descent 
of  the  Spirit  was  the  symbol  of  His  investiture  with 
miraculous  'powers,  and  that  He  Himself  knew  the 
fact.  We  know  that  before  this  He  wrought  no 
miracle,  in  spite  of  the  foolish  statements  of  the 
Apocryphal  Gospels;  we  know  also  that  imme- 
diately after,  the  tempter  addressed  Him  as  one 
conscious  of  miraculous  powers.  Jesus  then  at  this 
time  had  just  arrived  at  two  remarkable  experi- 
ences :  a  strong  assurance  of  God's  favour,  and  the 
possession  of  supernatural  power.  Had  He  been 
a  mere  man,  the  concurrence  of  these  two  things 
would  have  been  full  of  peril  to  Him.  It  seemed 
good  to  God  to  pass  Him  through  a  trial  which  made 
it  plain  that  the  circumstances  that  w^ould  have 
proved  perilous  to  others  were  wholly  without  hurt 
to  Him. 

Let  us  observe  how  others  have  too  often  been 
affected,  when  either  they  were  put  in  possession  of 
remarkable  power,  or  seemed  to  receive  a  strong 
assurance  of  God's  favour.  It  is  simply  a  matter  of 
history  that  few  men  have  been  able  to  wield 
remarkable  power,  suddenly  acquired,  of  any  kind 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY.  33 

without  danger,  and  without  being  corrupted  by  it. 
They  seem  to  feel  as  if  ordinary  rules  were  not 
made  for  them,  as  if  they  were  above  ordinary 
restraints,  as  if  they  were  a  law  to  themselves. 
Take  the  case  of  Saul,  so  modest  before  he  was  on 
the  throne,  so  wild  and  reckless  after  he  became 
conscious  of  royal  power.  Take  the  case  of  Luther 
in  his  conflict  with  Zw^ngle,  or  indeed  the  case  of 
any  church  ruler  in  the  hour  of  unlimited  power. 
Take  the  case  of  Henry  vni.,  or  that  of  the  leaders 
of  the  French  Eevolution  ;  or  that  of  Napoleon,  who 
took  many  a  liberty  with  the  moral  law,  because  he 
was  an  extraordinary  person,  and  finally  divorced 
Josephine  to  marry  a  prmcess  of  Austria. 

Then  again,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  remarkable 
sense  of  the  Divine  favour,  there  is  another  danger 
for  weak  mortals.  Men  who  are  not  hypocrites 
have  been  known  to  presume  on  their  spiritual 
attainments  to  play  loose  with  moral  restraints, 
some  subtle  feeling  getting  into  their  minds  that 
their  spiritual  elevation  raised  them  above  the 
necessity  of  minding  rules  and  restraints  needed  for 
other  men.  A  time  of  religious  awakening  often 
brings  such  phenomena.  Agents  that  appeared  to 
be  eminently  blessed  have  been  known  to  fall  into 
the  most  deplorable  immorality.  Others,  without 
tumbling  so  deep  into  the  mire,  have  brought  much 
discredit  on  the  cause  by  crooked,  dishonest,  un- 
truthful ways.  The  wonderful  revival  of  religion 
under  Jonathan  Edwards,  in  New  England,  had  its 
own  share  of  such  lamentable  blotches.  Even  in  our 
own  day  we  have  seen  how  little  able  some  men  are 
to  bear  a  popular  position,  and  a  high  reputation  for 

c 


34  PEEPARATION  FOK  HIS  MINISTRY. 

sanctity.  Some  have  indeed  stood  it  nobly,  thanks 
to  the  grace  of  God.  But  others, — men  taken  from 
the  plough  or  the  mine,  when  they  have  come  to  hold 
a  whole  village  in  their  grasp,  when  they  have  been 
looked  up  to  as  oracles,  revered  as  almost  angels — 
have  been  filled  with  conceit  and  spiritual  presump- 
tion,— the  pride  that  goeth  before  a  fall. 

It  seemed  good  to  God  then,  that  when  invested 
with  special  miraculous  power,  and  assured  specially 
of  the  Divine  favour,  Christ  should  be  exposed  to 
a  fresh  ordeal.  It  was  borne  in  the  wilderness,  at 
a  distance  from  those  to  whom  he  had  been  pointed 
out  as  the  Lamb  of  God  and  Lord  of  the  heavenly 
kingdom,  and  therefore  without  the  stimulus  which 
their  presence  would  have  supplied, — the  inducement 
to  sustain  before  them  the  lofty  reputation  which  He 
had  just  acquired.  A  temptation  in  the  wilderness, 
apart  from  all  human  observation,  is  a  peculiarly 
subtle  one,  being  fitted  to  show  whether  our  habits 
are  the  result  merely  of  regard  for  our  character  in 
the  sight  of  men,  or  of  inflexible  regard  to  the  will 
of  God. 

The  ordeal  was  threefold:  first,  A  temptation 
to  use  His  power  for  self-indidgence — "command 
that  these  stones  be  made  bread;"  second,  for  self- 
display — "cast  thyself  down;"  and  third,  for  unholy 
self-advancement — ^"all  these  things  will  I  give  thee  if 
thou  wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me."  Self-indulg- 
ence, springing  from  the  hist  of  the  flesh;  self-display, 
springing  from  the  hcst  of  the  eye ;  and  self-advance- 
ment, springing  from  the  pride  of  life,  were  the  three 
things  to  which  the  prince  of  this  world  appealed 
in  Christ ;  but  now,  as  at  the  end  of  His  public  life. 


PREPAKATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTKY.  35 

it  was  made  apparent  that  there  was  no  loose  joint 
in  His  armour :  "  the  prince  of  this  world  cometh, 
but  hath  nothing  in  me." 

This  is  not  the  place  for  going  into  Christ's  way 
of  dealing  with  these  temptations.  His  treatment 
of  them  showed  how  carefully  He  guarded  Himself 
against  every  abuse  of  His  power,  and  how  resolutely 
He  maintained  the  spirit  of  subjection  which  He 
had  been  exercising  so  long.  His  purpose  was  quite 
resolute  to  make  no  use  of  His  supernatural  power 
for  merely  personal  ends.  I  am  not  sure  but  we 
sometimes  feel  as  if  He  carried  that  spirit  to  a  too 
chivalrous  extreme.  What  harm  would  there  have 
been  in  turning  a  stone  into  bread  ?  This  harm : 
it  would  have  shown  Christ  using  for  personal  ends 
the  powers  intrusted  to  Him  for  the  good  of  others ; 
it  would  have  damaged  at  the  outset  the  moral 
meaning  of  His  miracles;  instead  of  symbols  of 
redemption,  they  would  have  become  manifestations 
of  self-interest ;  instead  of  tokens  of  patient,  self- 
denying  charity,  they  would  have  been  tokens  of  an 
impatience  that  cannot  wait  till  God's  time  be  come. 
But  in  point  of  fact,  every  one  of  the  devil's  tempta- 
tions was  steadily  resisted ;  and  Jesus  came  out  of 
the  ordeal  greater  because  He  had  hid  His  great- 
ness, more  powerful  because  He  had  suppressed  His 
power. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  circumstances  of 
young  ministers,  about  to  enter  on  their  ministry, 
present  a  close  analogy  to  those  of  Jesus  now. 

Generally,  we  may  say,  there  is  the  temptation 
connected  with  the  achievement  of  a  purpose  for 
which  there  has  been  long  training,  and,  perhaps, 


36  PKEPAKATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY. 

miicli  straining  too.  Then  there  is  the  temptation 
connected  with  the  entrance  on  a  new  office,  and  the 
exercise  of  a  new  power.  The  temptation  is  not  a 
gross  temptation,  and  yet,  in  a  subtle  way,  it  may 
work  to  very  evil  results. 

1.  Thus,  entrance  on  the  ministry  may  prove  the 
occasion  of  some  forms  of  self-indulgence.  Especi- 
ally, if  it  should  happen  that  one  enters  the  ministry 
without  a  converted  heart  and  sympathetic  spirit. 
The  records  of  our  churches  contain  such  miserable 
cases.  Men  resorting  to  false  excitement  to  keep 
up  a  work  for  which  they  have  no  heart :  and  falling 
from  one  depth  to  another,  till  at  last  deposition 
ends  their  career.  It  makes  one  tremble  to  think 
how  fearful  falls  of  this  kind  sometimes  occur. 

But  apart  from  such  an  extreme,  we  sometimes 
see  even  young  ministers,  after  a  brief  term  of 
resolute  activity,  sinking  into  lazy  Wt^ys  and  slack 
service.  There  is  not  much  of  outward  stimulus  in 
their  surroundings,  and  the  poor  creatures  sink  into 
an  easy-going,  unsystematic,  unenergetic  life.  "O 
my  soul,  come  not  thou  into  their  secret ;  unto  their 
assembly,  mine  honour,  be  not  thou  united."  Bar- 
gain for  no  easy  berth  ;  claim  no  surroundings  agree- 
able to  flesh  and  blood;  be  ready  for  such  hard 
service  at  home  and  abroad  as  the  Master  may  point 
out.  For  it  is  written  for  you,  Man  doth  not  live 
by  bread  alone;  not  by  a  good  income,  superior 
society,  or  a  numerous  and  respectable  congrega- 
tion, but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God. 

2.  Again :  the  ministry  may  become  the  occasion 
of  self-display.     Some  like  to  show  the  world  what 


PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  MINISTRY.  37 

they  can  do — how  they  can  mount  on  pinnacles  of 
the  temple  and  perform  wonderful  flights,  if  not 
literally,  yet  figuratively.  How  sweet  to  some  men 
are  the  plaudits  of  others !  But  is  it  not  odious  for 
us  to  be  thinking  of  ourselves  in  a  profession  that 
aims  at  saving  dying  souls  ?  Men  like  Chalmers  and 
M'Cheyne  are  constantly  noting  in  their  diaries  what 
assaults  they  had  from  this  devil,  and  how  hard  they 
found  it  to  beat  him  back.  The  temptation  is  all 
the  more  subtle  that  there  is  a  legitimate  ground 
for  desiring  the  approval  of  estimable  men.  But 
never  for  one  instant  should  this  be  allowed  to  be 
the  end  of  our  service.  Whenever  man's  approval 
is  sought  more  than  God's,  "  Get  thee  behind  me, 
Satan,"  is  the  meet  word  for  the  temptation. 

3.  Once  more,  entrance  on  the  ministry  may  be- 
come the  occasion  of  unholy  self-advancement.  It 
may  be  sought  for  raising  us  above  our  fellows,  for 
procuring  for  us  a  deference  and  a  consideration  not 
to  be  otherwise  attained.  We  may  be  tempted  to 
use  mean  arts  for  succeeding.  We  may  be  tempted 
to  become  sycophantish  to  men  of  influence.  I 
know  that  such  arts  are  abhorrent  to  most  young 
men.  But  the  tempter  is  subtle,  and  can  bide  his 
time.  It  was  when  our  Lord  was  hungry  that  he 
assailed  Him.  The  time  may  come  when  you  will 
be  ecclesiastically  hungry.  You  may  have  failed 
to  get  a  call  within  the  usual  time.  You  may  be 
left  alone,  after  all  your  fellows  have  been  called. 
You  may  be  dissatisfied  with  your  position.  Then 
is  the  moment  when  you  are  liable  to  be  tempted 
to  unholy  methods  of  self-advancement.  Then  you 
may  be  more  disposed  than  you  ever  were  before  to 


38  PREPARATION  FOB  HIS  MINISTRY. 

listen  to  offers  of  the  glory  of  this  world.  It  is 
well,  at  such  moments,  to  realise  vividly  the  presence 
of  God ;  well  to  remember  from  whom  such  unholy 
offers  usually  come;  well  to  say,  with  holy  firm- 
ness, "  I  will  worship  the  Lord  my  God,  and  Him 
only  will  I  serve." 

It  is  not  only  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  but  one 
of  the  most  instructive  incidents  of  the  temptation 
that  when  the  devil  left  Jesus,  angels  came  and 
ministered  unto  Him.  We  accept  the  fact  in  all  its 
literalness ;  while  at  the  same  time  we  recognise  in 
it  a  symbol  of  that  holy  peace  and  joy  wliich  fills 
the  soul  after  a  great  struggle,  and  a  great  moral 
victory.  Whether  angels  come  literally  to  comfort 
all  who  fight  the  good  fight,  we  cannot  tell ;  but  at 
least  they  come  figuratively ;  and  words  cannot  ex- 
press the  beatific  feeling  that  fills  the  soul.  There 
never  was  a  happier  summer  than  that  of  1843 
among  the  outed  ministers  of  Scotland,  though 
it  was  spent  in  the  wilderness,  amid  the  ruin  and 
desolation  of  a  dismantled  Church.  But  it  was  peace 
after  a  great  struggle;  it  was  the  angels  coming 
to  comfort  those  who  had  been  signally  beaten,  but 
had  yet  overcome.  This  peace  that  passeth  all 
understanding  is  God's  token  to  him  that  over- 
cometh ;  it  is  the  encouragement  to  persevere  when 
you  are  hard  pressed,  when  the  temptation  is  strong, 
and  the  flesh  is  weak  and  weary :  for  the  joy  of  the 
victory  is  in  proportion  to  the  hardness  of  the 
battle;  when  the  devil  leaves,  angels  come  and 
minister  to  you. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

From  the  moment  when  Jesus  comes  before  ns  in 
His  public  capacity  to  the  last  hour  of  His  life, 
His  mind  is  entirely  occupied  with  one  object — the 
spiritual  enterprise  to  which  He  has  given  Himself 
up.  Nothing  else  awakens  in  Him  more  than  a 
passing  interest.  Not  that  He  deems  other  pursuits 
unworthy  of  the  regard  of  those  who  have  a  calling 
to  them.  The  use  He  makes  for  illustration  of  the 
employments  of  fishermen,  vine-dressers,  builders, 
merchants,  and  the  like,  shows  that  He  could  appre- 
ciate these  callings,  and  commend  those  who  pur- 
sued them  diligently,  with  due  regard  to  higher  things. 
His  allusions  to  the  lilies  of  the  field  and  the  fowls  of 
the  air ;  to  the  fig-tree  when  its  branch  is  yet  tender ; 
to  the  appearance  of  the  sky  at  night  and  at  morn- 
ing ;  to  the  sparrows ;  to  the  lightning,  and  other 
objects  of  nature,  indicate  an  eye  for  natural  pheno- 
mena as  both  interesting  in  themselves,  and  useful 
in  the  analogies  and  lessons  which  they  suggest. 
Many  other  subjects  are  wholly  passed  by  in  our 
Lord's  conversations  and  discourses,  to  which  we 
cannot  believe  Him  to  have  been  indififerent.  His 
active  interest  centres  in  the  building  up  of  the 


40  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

kingdom  of  God,  and  all  that  is  not  immediately 
connected  therewith  seems  for  the  time  to  be  beyond 
His  view. 

To  understand  His  relation  to  these  things,  we 
must  think  of  Him  as  we  think  of  a  general  in  a 
w^ar  crisis,  or  of  a  physician  in  a  time  of  plague,  or 
of  any  one  else  who  has  got  in  hand  some  urgent 
business,  and  has  but  a  short  time  to  overtake  it. 
A  soldier  sent  to  Egypt  or  India,  or  other  remote 
country,  on  momentous  duty,  and  requiring  to 
despatch  his  business  with  the  utmost  rapidity,  has 
to  leave  behind  him  a  thousand  interests,  that  with 
more  leisure  and  less  urgency  might  worthily 
occupy  a  share  of  his  attention.  He  may  be  fond 
of  scientific  inquiries,  but  what  can  he  do  in  them 
on  the  field  of  battle  ?  He  may  be  greatly  attached 
to  his  family  and  friends,  but  in  active  service  all 
thought  of  enjoying  domestic  life  m::st  be  aban- 
doned. He  may  be  a  devourer  of  books,  but  with 
the  duty  which  he  has  in  hand,  general  reading  is 
not  even  to  be  dreamt  of.  The  same  is  true  of  a 
physician  while  a  plague  is  raging.  It  is  evident 
that  our  Lord  regarded  His  duty  as  akin  to  theirs. 
He  had  to  work  while  it  was  called  to-day.  He 
knew  well  that  His  time  was  very  short.  In  three 
or  four  brief  years  the  whole  of  the  w^ork  had  to  be 
accomplished  for  which  He  came  into  this  w^orld. 
The  foundations  had  to  be  laid  of  the  kingdom  that 
can  never  be  moved.  A  direction  had  to  be  given 
to  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  men  in  opposition  to 
all  the  forces  of  evil  that  w^re  to  sweep  through 
the  world  to  the  end  of  time.  Suffering  had  to  be 
borne,  enemies  to  be  conquered,  obedience  to  be 


THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  41 

rendered,  atonement  to  be  made,  everlasting  right- 
eousness to  be  brought  in, — in  a  word,  a  work  had 
to  be  completed  that,  besides  its  bearing  on  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  men,  would  form 
a  new  point  of  departure  for  the  history  of  the 
universe,  inasmuch  as  it  was  the  Divine  purpose 
that  Jesus  Christ,  when  glorified,  should  become  the 
pivot,  as  it  were,  for  the  universe  to  move  on,  the 
new  centre  for  all  things  in  heaven  and  on  earth 
(Eph.  i.  10,  R.V.) 

It  was  surely  fitting  that  a  work  so  stupendous, 
and  that  had  to  be  accomplished  so  quickly,  should 
fill  His  soul.  Whatever  He  might  think  of  art  or 
science,  philosophy  or  culture,  politics  or  social  pro- 
gress,— these  were  not  suitable  matters  to  occupy 
His  attention,  or  to  be  brought  before  His  disciples 
during  the  great  crisis  of  His  work.  He  that  was 
so  straitened  by  His  baptism  of  suffering,  till  it 
should  be  accomplished ;  that  so  agonised  in  Geth- 
semane  under  the  shadow  of  His  conflict;  that 
even  in  the  less  exciting  times  of  His  ministry 
spent  nights  in  prayer  for  needed  strength,  could 
not  have  allowed  other  topics  to  divide  His  atten- 
tion while  the  redemption  of  a  world  hung  in  the 
balance,  and  all  depended  on  Him. 

The  life  of  our  blessed  Lord,  then,  is  the  very 
pattern  and  perfection  of  consecration.  He  is  the 
perfect  example  of  the  single  eye,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, of  the  whole  body  full  of  light.  He  is  at 
the  furthest  possible  remove  from  aU  who  serve 
two  masters — from  the  whole  tribe  of  men  to  whom 
Bunyan  gives  his  expressive  names,  Mr.  Facing- 
both-ways,   Mr.  By-ends,   and   Mr.  Worldly-wise- 


42  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

man.  He  has  no  interest  but  that  of  the  kingdom 
of  God ;  and  for  advancing  that  kingdom  He  spares 
no  energy  that  can  be  brought  into  play,  declines  no 
suffering,  grudges  no  sacrifice,  dreads  no  danger. 
From  whichsoever  of  the  four  gospels  we  derive  our 
impression  of  His  life,  the  result  is  the  same.  He 
soars  high  above  all  vulgar  ambitions  and  personal 
aims.  While  in  the  world,  He  is  not  of  it.  On  the 
men  of  His  time  this  feature  of  His  life  must  have 
made  a  profound  impression.  On  the  men  of  all 
time  it  continues  to  make  the  same.  It  is  one  of 
the  chief  elements  of  the  halo  that  surrounds  His 
name,  and  that  even  from  those  who  are  least  like 
Him  draws  forth  the  almost  involuntary  excla- 
mation, "  Thou  art  fairer  than  the  children  of 
men." 

This  consecration  of  our  Lord  to  the  service  of 
God  in  the  interest  of  sinful  men  may  be  viewed  in 
three  lights,  according  as  we  direct  attention  to  one 
or  other  of  the  three  parties  concerned, — God,  man, 
and  Christ  Himself.  In  reference  to  God,  the 
Father,  Christ  became  His  servant  for  the  work  of 
redemption,  and  the  thoroughness  of  His  consecra- 
tion appears  in  His  complete  surrender  of  Himself 
to  the  Father's  will.  In  reference  to  Man,  He  was 
moved  by  a  burning  desire  for  his  salvation ;  and 
the  thoroughness  of  His  consecration  appears  in  the 
unexampled  nature  of  the  work  undertaken  out  of 
compassion  and  sympathy  for  him.  In  reference  to 
Himself,  the  same  appears  in  the  completeness  of 
His  self-abnegation,  giving  up  every  personal  in- 
terest and  feeling,  encountering  every  danger  and 
suffering,  making  nothing  of  Himself,  if  only  He 


THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  43 

might  accomplish  the  work  of  deliverance  so  dear 
to  His  soul. 

All  who  have  been  remarkable  for  faithful  and 
zealous  service  in  God's  cause  have  been  more  or 
less  marked  by  these  three  qualities.  But  in  human 
ministries  they  are  seldom  blended  in  the  fittest 
proportions.  In  some  of  the  prophets,  for  example, 
you  find  that  quality  prominent  that  vindicates  the 
will  of  God  and  His  claims  on  His  creatures.  To 
men  of  this  type  the  chief  aspect  of  the  world's  sin 
is  as  insult  to  God,  as  rebellion  against  His  will  and 
repudiation  of  His  claims.  They  are  like  servants 
of  an  injured  master,  bent  on  securing  for  him  the 
honour  that  he  deserves.  In  their  addresses  to  men 
a  tone  of  indignant  remonstrance  marks  their  words. 
Pre-eminent  as  examples  of  this  class  are  such  pro- 
phets as  Elijah  and  John  the  Baptist.  Soft  raiment 
is  not  their  apparel,  and  soft  words  are  not  their 
mode  of  speech.  Their  mission  is  mainly  to  startle 
and  rouse  a  careless  generation,  and  demand  their 
homage  for  the  authority  of  God.  "  Glory  to  God 
in  the  highest "  is  the  key-note  of  their  song. 

Again,  there  have  been  servants  of  God  in  whom 
the  element  of  human  tenderness  predominates. 
Men  like  Jeremiah  and  Hosea  have  very  sensitive 
hearts,  and  are  profoundly  moved  by  the  misery  of 
their  brethren.  Some  of  their  most  touching  appeals 
are  inspired  by  the  feeling  that  their  sinful  ways 
are  driving  men  to  misery  and  ruin,  and  that 
if  they  would  be  saved,  if  they  would  be  happy, 
they  must  return  to  the  Lord.  It  is  the  brotherly 
or  human  element  that  is  most  conspicuous  in  such 
men.     Entreaty  is  much  more  their  weapon  than 


44  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

rebuke.  To  lessen  the  sum  of  human  misery  is 
their  ruling  passion.  "Peace  on  earth  and  good- 
will to  man"  is  the  predominant  note  in  their 
song. 

In  both  classes  the  service  is  accompanied  by 
profound  self-abnegation.  Personal  aims  are  dis- 
regarded. In  the  case  of  Elijah  and  John  the 
Baptist  this  self-abnegation  is  carried  out  into 
absolute  crucifixion  to  the  world.  They  seem  to 
strip  themselves  of  every  human  comfort  and  joy. 
Those  who  are  more  moved  by  sympathy  for  their 
fellows  are  hardly  less  conspicuous  for  their  self- 
denial.  The  intensity  of  their  brotherly  feeling 
makes  it  impossible  for  them  to  live  at  ease  while 
their  brethren  are  in  misery.  Whatever  they  can 
do,  whatever  they  can  give,  whatever  they  may  have 
to  suffer  in  the  cause  of  their  brethren,  all  is  done 
with  a  freeness  and  cordiality  that  cannot  be 
surpassed. 

These  three  elements  of  consecration,  as  we  have 
said,  are  not  always  found  in  due  proportions.  As 
in  some  species  of  granite  you  find  a  preponderance 
of  quartz,  in  others  of  felspar,  and  in  others  of 
mica,  and  only  in  a  few  varieties  the  three  elements 
blended  in  the  best  proportion,  so  in  human  minis- 
tries. No  true  servant  of  God,  indeed,  wants  any  of 
the  three  elements,  and  in  the  great  Old  Testament 
ministries,  while  the  proportion  varies,  the  combi- 
nation is  ever  found.  But  in  some  cases,  chiefly 
outside  the  Bible,  we  see  a  tendency  to  excess  in 
one  direction  or  another,  and  for  want  of  the  balanc- 
ing element,  the  result  is  not  so  favourable.  Where 
zeal  for  the  honour  of  God  greatly  predominates 


THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  45 

there  is  sometimes  a  hardness  of  manner  if  not  of 
feeling  that  causes  a  recoil  to  more  sympathetic 
natures.  In  his  eagerness  to  execute  judgment  on 
those  who  outraged  the  authority  of  God,  Phinehas 
seems  hardly  to  remember  the  misery  to  which  they 
are  doomed.  Human  sympathy  is  not  his  forte. 
His  watchword  is,  "  Let  God  arise,  and  let  His 
enemies  be  scattered."  Even  where  this  zeal  for 
God  is  real — say  in  a  Cromwell — the  character  that 
results  is  often  in  its  severity  terrible.  But  where 
zeal  for  God  is  counterfeited  by  ecclesiastical  or 
other  ambition,  and  where  the  place  of  human 
sympathy  is  usurped  by  a  most  bitter  malignity, 
the  scenes  enacted  baffle  description.  Witness  the 
atrocities  of  Mohammedan  massacres,  or  the  cold- 
blooded horrors  of  the  Inquisition. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  human  sympathy  be  allowed 
to  prevail  unduly,  there  is  a  tendency  to  a  senti- 
mental compassion,  that  would  separate  between  sin 
and  the  suffering  which  is  its  natural  consequence. 
Wrong-doers  may  become  the  objects  of  an  interest 
and  even  a  complacency  which  are  withheld  from 
the  struggling  and  the  industrious.  It  was  this 
excess  of  compassion  for  the  criminal  class,  as 
illustrated  in  the  refined  arrangements  of  our 
"model  prisons,"  that  provoked  the  ridicule  and 
sarcasm  of  Mr.  Carlyle  in  his  Latter-Day  Pani- 
jphlets.  The  same  tendency  may  be  traced  in  the 
disposition  of  the  present  day  to  tone  down  the 
sterner  features  of  theology,  and  especially  those 
which  relate  to  the  punishment  of  sin.  Under  such 
influences  the  whole  system  of  government,  human 
and  divine,  becomes  relaxed  and   feeble,  and  the 


46  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

solemn  truth  wliicli  needs  to  be  so  well  remembered 
loses  all  influence — "  The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall 
die." 

It  is  the  combination  of  the  two  elements  in  due 
proportion — of  regard  to  God's  will  and  zeal  for  His 
glory  on  the  one  hand,  and  sympathy  with  man  and 
brotherly  concern  for  his  sorrows  and  sufferings  on 
the  other,  that  constitutes  the  highest  type  of  ser- 
vice, and  tends  to  results  the  most  solid  and  satis- 
factory. Where  these  two  features  are  thus  combined, 
and  are  accompanied  by  that  personal  self-abnega- 
tion which  always  lends  so  high  a  charm,  a  species 
of  excellence  is  realised  to  which,  however  it  may 
condemn  themselves,  few  hearts  can  withhold  the 
tribute  of  their  admiration. 

Now,  when  we  turn  -our  attention  to  the  public 
service  of  our  blessed  Lord,  we  find  it  marked  by 
a  faultless  combination  and  beautiful  proportion  of 
all  the  three  elements.  At  the  very  foundation  of 
His  human  character  lay  the  profoundest  reverence 
for  the  Father's  will,  and  an  indefeasible  regard  for 
His  rights  and  claims.  Blending  with  this  in  beau- 
tiful harmony  was  a  very  tender  spirit  of  humanity 
— a  heart  that  bled  for  every  human  misery,  and 
panted  to  relieve  it.  And  in  the  fulfilment  alike  of 
the  one  feeling  and  the  other — of  zeal  for  God  and 
sympathy  for  man — there  was  the  most  complete 
renunciation  of  self  in  every  shape  and  form ;  where 
God's  will  on  the  one  hand  and  man's  welfare  on 
the  other  were  concerned,  self  was  not  for  one 
moment  thought  of.  The  whole  earthly  career  of 
Christ  was  a  career  of  self-renunciation ;  but,  like  a 
Jun^frau  or  Matterhorn,  rising  high  above  its  moun- 


THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  47 

tain  chain,  acts  of  still  loftier  self-denial  rose  above 
the  ordinary  level  of  His  life,  culminating,  to  speak 
paradoxically,  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross  and  the 
humiliation  of  the  tomb. 

Let  us  dwell  for  a  little  on  each  of  these  features 
of  the  public  service  of  our  Lord. 

I.  And  first,  of  His  high  reverence  for  the  will  and 
the  claims  of  the  Father.  Knowing  as  we  do  His 
supreme  Godhead,  it  is  very  difficult  for  us  to  get 
into  our  minds  the  possibility  of  His  assuming  a 
position  of  entire  subjection  to  another.  But  we 
must  remember  that  the  Person  of  Christ  is  quite 
beyond  the  sphere  of  our  experience,  and  that  what 
bears  upon  it  can  only  be  matter  of  revelation  and 
of  faith.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  features  of 
Christ's  human  life  delineated  in  Scripture  that 
throughout  its  whole  extent  He  is  seen  actuated  by 
the  feeling  that  personally  He  must  be  subject  to 
the  will  of  another.  He  was  under  the  constant 
sense  of  that  obligation,  both  in  what  He  did  and  in 
what  He  suffered.  "  I  came  down  from  heaven  not 
to  do  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  him  that  sent 
me."  "  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent 
me,  and  to  finish  his  work."  So  also  with  regard 
to  His  sufferings.  After  strong  crying  and  tears  in 
Gethsemane  that  if  it  were  possible  that  cup  might 
pass  from  Him,  He  becomes  thoroughly  reconciled  by 
the  simple  thought  that  God  wills  them  :  "  Not  my 
will,  but  thine  be  done."  Not  only  is  the  thought 
of  God's  will  a  support  under  bodily  and  mental 
pain,  it  is  a  refuge  too  under  mental  perplexity. 
In  itself  it  could  be  only  profound  pain  to  Christ  to 


48  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

think  of  the  hardness  of  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida, 
the  impenitence  of  Capernaum,  and,  generally,  the 
opposition  to  the  gospel  of  those  whom  He  calls 
"the  wise  and  prudent"  (Matt.  xi.  25).  But  even  in 
the  view  of  these  things  He  finds  a  quiet  nook  where 
His  soul  may  rest  in  peace,  in  the  thought  of  the 
holy  will  that  ruled  over  all :  "  Even  so,  Father,  for 
so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight."  In  reviewing  their 
public  life,  there  is  probably  no  feature  in  which 
even  God's  best  servants  find  more  cause  for  self- 
condemnation  than  their  forgetfulness  of  God's  will, 
both  in  what  they  have  done  and  what  they  have 
suffered :  how  striking,  in  contrast  to  this,  the  uni- 
form, profound,  uncompromising  regard  to  it  by  our 
blessed  Lord  !  At  the  end  of  all  He  could  say,  with- 
out reserve  or  compunction,  "  I  have  finished  the 
work  which  thou  gavest  me  to  do." 

And  as  our  Lord  thus  honoured  God's  will 
Himself,  so  He  constantly  maintained  its  claim  on 
others.  For  men  to  transgress  the  commandment 
of  God  by  their  traditions — to  neutralise  the  fifth 
commandment  by  the  absurdities  of  Corban — was 
an  outrage  on  the  law  of  God.  To  Jesus  Christ 
the  moral  law  contained  in  the  Scriptures  was  the 
reflection  of  the  Divine  will,  the  very  transcript  of 
God's  holy  nature ;  and  of  all  wrong  notions  of  His 
mission  that  which  He  was  most  eager  to  explode 
was,  that  in  reference  to  that  law  He  had  come  not 
to  fulfil  but  to  destroy.  In  His  parables  He  is  ever 
upholding  the  authority  of  the  Lawgiver,  vindicating 
His  sovereignty.  His  right  to  do  what  He  will  with 
His  own ;  vindicating  His  proprietorship,  His  right 
to  the  fruits  of  the  vineyard ;  vindicating  His  autho- 


THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  49 

rity  and  power  as  Judge,  and  the  certainty  of  His 
punishing  the  indolent  and  careless,  and  rewarding 
the  good  and  faithful  servant.  ISTot  only  is  regard 
to  the  wUl  of  God  an  important  element  of  Christian 
character  in  Christ's  view,  but  it  is  the  great  test  by 
which  every  life  will  be  tried  at  the  judgment,  and 
the  most  momentous  issues  of  eternity  determined 
— "Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me  Lord,  Lord, 
shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 
And  the  element  of  character  that  endears  men 
socially  to  Christ,  and  that  establishes  in  His  society 
that  oneness  of  spirit  and  aim  which  is  the  joy  and 
charm  of  family  life,  is  consecration  to  the  will  of 
God:  "For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  mother, 
and  sister,  and  brother." 

Thus,  during  all  His  ministry,  our  Lord  was  over- 
shadowed by  a  lofty  sense  of  what  was  due  to  the 
will  of  the  Father ;  it  penetrated  His  soul  to  its 
core,  controlled  all  His  actions,  influenced  all  His 
teaching,  and  moulded  all  His  aims.  In  propor- 
tion to  the  depth  of  this  impression  was  His  sense 
of  the  evil  of  sin.  His  grief  for  the  moral  ruin  of  the 
world,  and  His  desire  to  build  up  a  kingdom  in  truth, 
righteousness,  and  love.  Of  His  sense  of  the  evil 
of  sin  we  have  a  striking  proof  in  such  earnest  words 
as  these :  "  If  thy  right  hand  cause  thee  to  stumble, 
cut  it  off  and  cast  it  from  thee."  Sin  is  such  an 
awful  thing  that  even  a  right  hand  or  a  right  eye  is 
not  too  much  to  lose  if  the  loss  should  save  you  from 
the  sin.  Yet  on  every  side  He  sees  the  traces  of 
sin,  and  the  disorder  and  misery  which  are  bred  of 

D 


50  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

it.  A  nature  less  controlled  might  have  abandoned 
itself  to  despair  in  view  of  such  moral  confusion  and 
desolation;  in  the  case  of  our  Lord,  He  is  only 
braced  for  the  efforts  and  sacrifices  necessary  for  the 
work  of  redemption — necessary  at  once  to  vindicate 
the  honour  of  God  and  the  majesty  of  His  law, 
and  to  give  birth  to  a  regenerated  world  in  which 
the  will  of  God  should  rule  supreme — the  "new 
heavens  and  the  new  earth  in  which  dwelleth 
righteousness." 

II.  If  the  public  ministry  of  our  Lord  was 
thus  controlled  by  a  supreme  regard  to  the  will 
and  glory  of  God,  it  was  marked,  not  less  con- 
spicuously, by  the  intensity  of  his  sympathy  for 
man. 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  our  Lord's  heart,  w^as 
kind  and  tender.  There  are  many  sujh  hearts  that 
are  not  sympathetic ;  that  pursue  calmly  the  tenor 
of  their  own  comfortable  way,  not  much  disturbed 
by  the  troubles  and  sorrows  of  their  brethren.  A 
sympathetic  heart  is  one  that  makes  the  case  of 
another  its  own ;  that  feels  a  personal  pang  at  its 
griefs  ;  that  cannot  rest  till  all  is  done  that  can  be 
done  to  allay  them ;  and  that  freely  gives  up  for  this 
purpose  its  time,  its  means,  its  comforts,  and  if  need 
be,  its  very  life. 

It  is  said  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  "  Himself  took  our 
infirmities  and  bare  our  sicknesses  "  (Matt.  viii.  1 7). 
He  did  not  view  men's  troubles  afar  off,  sending 
from  time  to  time  a  substantial  contribution  for 
their  relief,  with  hearty  wishes  for  their  welfare. 
He  went  ia  among  them,  lived  in  the  midst  of  them, 


THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  51 

and  burdened  Himself  with  their  case.  Even  their 
temporal  ailments  moved  His  heart  to  its  core; 
while  their  spiritual  condition,  terrible  though  it 
was,  led  to  nothing  less  than  His  placing  Himself 
in  their  room,  to  bear  for  them  all  that  Divine 
justice  demanded,  and  by  this  sacrifice  save  them 
from  their  sins. 

The  whole  miracles  of  Christ  were  monuments  of 
sympathy.  Every  case  of  disease  healed,  of  devils 
ejected,  of  the  hungry  fed,  of  the  dead  raised,  was  a 
token  of  His  compassion  for  the  suffering.  Such 
parables  as  that  of  the  good  Samaritan,  the  prodigal 
son,  the  son  asking  bread  of  his  father,  revealed  the 
tenderness  of  His  own  heart.  It  seemed  impossible 
for  Him  to  witness  suffering  without  relieving  it. 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest" — indicated  the  large- 
ness as  well  as  the  tenderness  of  His  heart.  Instead 
of  being  repelled  by  the  miseries  and  disorders  of  the 
world,  Jesus  was  attracted  to  them.  He  flung 
Himself  into  the  great  flood  of  disorder  and  suffer- 
ing to  take  on  Him  the  burden  of  stemming  it  and 
curing  it.  He  knew  that  it  could  not  be  cured 
without  most  grievous  suffering  on  His  part;  but 
His  intense  compassion  overcame  all  dread  of  suffer- 
ing, and  indeed  all  thought  of  Himself.  The  bright 
consummation  for  which  His  loving  heart  thirsted 
must  be  realised.  "Eor  the  joy  that  was  set 
before  him,  he  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame." 

III.  This  calls  up  the  third  element  of  high  con- 
secration— self-surrender,  readiness  for  every  form 


52  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

of  self-denial  necessary  for  the  achievement  of  a 
great  end. 

What  Jesus  did  in  this  respect  lies  on  the  very- 
surface  of  His  history.  First,  there  was  the  self- 
surrender  involved  in  His  incarnation — coming  into 
this  disordered  world,  and  becoming  a  member  of 
our  fallen  family.  Then  there  was  the  self-denial 
of  His  humble  mode  of  life — without  even  the  com- 
forts of  a  fixed  home — "  the  foxes  have  holes,  and 
the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man 
hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head."  Further,  there 
was  the  self-denial  arising  from  collisions  with 
opponents,  from  the  contradiction  of  sinners,  from 
the  plots  of  calumniators,  and  from  the  frailties  and 
sins  of  His  disciples.  And  lastly,  there  was  the 
mysterious  and  incomprehensible  suffering  arising 
from  the  relation  in  which  He  placed  Himself  to 
the  Father  as  the  surety  and  substitute  of  His 
people,  when,  in  the  strong  language  of  the  apostle, 
He  became  sin  and  a  curse  for  them,  "that  the 
blessing  of  Abraham  might  come  on  the  Gentiles ; 
that  they  might  receive  the  promise  of  the  Spirit 
through  faith." 

Side  by  side  with  such  acts  of  self-renunciation, 
it  may  seem  trivial  to  refer  to  the  surrender  of  all 
those  intellectual  pursuits  and  social  pleasures  in 
which  in  other  circumstances  our  Lord  might  have 
been  pleased  to  engage.  Engrossed  as  He  was  with 
His  work.  He  had  no  time  for  foreign  travel,  or  for 
science,  or  art,  or  philosophy,  or  history,  or  any 
branch  of  literature,  or  for  any  of  the  ordinary 
recreations  or  amenities  of  life.  It  behoved  Him  to 
discard  all  such  things  while  engaged  in  laying  the 


THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  53 

foundations  of  His  kingdom.  And  such  things  as 
the  pursuit  of  wealth,  or  of  comfort,  or  of  fame,  or  ap- 
plause, or  earthly  distinction  of  any  kind,  were  mani- 
festly so  entirely  absent  from  His  mind  that  we 
can  hardly  fancy  them  giving  Him  any  trouble,  or 
requiring  so  much  as  an  effort  to  brush  them  com- 
pletely aside. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  our  Lord's  consecration  to 
His  work.  When  we  think  of  it  deliberately,  we 
cease  to  wonder  that  the  period  of  preparation  was 
so  long  in  proportion  to  the  period  of  active  service. 
We  cease  to  think  of  thirty  years  as  too  long  a  pre- 
paration for  a  ministry  of  so  remarkable  quality. 
We  seem  to  understand  better  how  the  thirty  years 
would  be  occupied.  We  fancy  the  spirit  of  regard 
to  the  will  of  God,  of  sympathy  for  man,  and  readi- 
ness to  suffer  for  him,  gaining  strength  from  year 
to  year,  under  the  holy  discipline  of  Nazareth.  The 
silence  of  that  long  period  becomes  sublime  when 
we  think  of  Him,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Father, 
slowly  and  steadily  maturing  the  human  instrument 
for  its  unexampled  work — strengthening  it  at  every 
point  where  the  strain  would  be  greatest,  forestalling 
the  pressure  and  the  conflicts  of  His  coming  ministry, 
putting  on  the  whole  armour  of  God  that  He  might 
be  able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having 
done  all  to  stand. 

We  come,  too,  to  understand  better  another  fea- 
ture of  His  public  life — His  continual  prayerfulness. 
Here  again  is  an  unexpected  feature.  Why  should 
the  Son  of  God  have  needed  to  pray  ?  "  In  the 
beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God."     Had  He  not  all- 


54  THE  INNER  SPIKIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

sufficiency  in  Himself?  Was  the  fulness  of  His 
Divine  nature  not  available  to  supply  all  the  needs 
of  His  human  ?  But  here  likewise  we  must  bear  in 
mind  what  has  been  stated  already,  that  the  Person 
of  Christ  is  beyond  our  comprehension,  and  that  the 
actings  of  His  personality  must  be  received  by  faith. 
We  are  taught  that  the  conditions  of  His  earthly 
life  and  ministry  were  such  that  His  supplies  needed 
to  be  asked  from  the  first  Person  of  the  Godhead. 
In  this  we  find  the  key  to  His  unwearied  prayer- 
fulness.  It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  hold  supplies 
of  Divine  strength  that  last  for  ever.  As  the  body 
needs  its  daily  bread,  so  does  the  soul.  Even  the 
human  nature  of  Jesus  needed  to  be  kept  up  to  the 
mark  by  constant  communications  from  above.  His 
devotion  to  the  will  of  God  needed  to  be  sustained 
in  strength,  where  the  doing  of  that  will  was  so 
difficult  as  the  struggles  of  Gethsemane  showed. 
His  sympathy  for  man  needed  nursing  and  replen- 
ishing, when  man  himself  was  doing  his  utmost  to 
extinguish  it, — was  seeking  in  every  way  to  compass 
the  ruin  of  Him  who  was  striving,  not  less  un- 
weariedly,  to  effect  his  salvation.  It  was  a  strange 
duel — the  Son  of  God  striving  to  save  the  sons  of 
men,  and  these  very  sons  of  men  striving  to  destroy 
the  Son  of  God.  His  self-renunciation  needed  daily 
renewal,  for  often  would  the  weary  body  crave  rest 
when  duty  demanded  continued  activity ;  often 
would  the  spirit  be  ready  to  fail  when  it  was  neces- 
sary though  faint  to  be  still  pursuing.  To  keep  up 
the  supply  of  Divine  influence,  and  have  it  full  and 
ready  for  every  emergency,  was  the  purpose  of 
Christ  in  these  continual  prayers.     If  duty  never 


THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  55 

seemed  to  Him  too  hard;  if  self-denial  never 
appeared  too  arduous ;  if  day  by  day  found  Him  at 
His  post,  healing,  teaching,  journeying,  meeting  the 
cavils  of  His  opponents,  and  trying  to  put  into  the 
crass  minds  of  His  followers  some  spiritual  views  of 
the  kingdom  of  God ;  if  the  stream  of  His  beautiful 
life  flowed  calmly  on,  spreading  purity  and  blessing 
on  every  side,  unaffected  alike  by  the  heats  of  sum- 
mer and  the  frosts  of  winter,  it  was  because  that 
habit  of  prayer  to  His  Father  was  kept  up  so  con- 
stantly :  "  I  have  set  the  Lord  always  before  me : 
because  he  is  at  my  right  hand,  I  shall  not  be 
moved"  (Psalm  xvi.  8). 

The  question  cannot  but  arise  in  conclusion,  Is 
this  consecrated  life  of  Christ's  a  literal  example  for 
His  ministers  now  ?  Granting  that  some  parts  of 
Christ's  work  are  wholly  beyond  our  sphere,  and 
granting  that  at  the  utmost  it  is  but  a  fraction  of 
what  fell  to  Him  that  falls  to  us,  are  we  bound  to 
consecrate  ourselves  as  much  as  He  did,  and  especi- 
ally are  we  called  on  to  renounce  all  those  lawful 
pursuits  and  recreations  which  in  His  case  behoved 
to  be  set  aside  ? 

One  thing  is  very  plain,  along  the  whole  line  of 
Christian  biography  and  history,  that  in  proportion 
to  the  degree  in  which  men  do  consecrate  themselves 
to  the  service  of  God  and  their  fellows,  is  the  mea- 
sure of  success  they  are  privileged  to  enjoy.  Con- 
secration and  spiritual  power  go  together.  The 
great  evangelists  of  the  world — men  like  Paul, 
Augustine,  Columba,  in  the  olden  time,  men  like 
Wesley,  Whitefield,  Burns,  Moody,  in  more  recent 


56  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

years,  have  been  marked  not  less  for  tlie  thorough- 
ness with  which  they  have  given  themselves  to 
Christ's  work  than  the  marvellous  results  they  have 
been  enabled  to  achieve.  Perhaps  the  greatest  snare 
of  the  Christian  minister  is  half-heartedness  in  his 
service.  And  the  things  that  he  reserves,  and  in  his 
secret  heart  is  not  prepared  to  give  up,  are  not  com- 
monly things  conspicuously  sinful.  They  are  rather 
subtle  forms  of  selfishness,  subtle  cravings  of  the 
heart,  seldom  spoken  of  to  others,  and  seldom  placed 
distinctly  before  his  own  mind.  It  is  hard  for  him 
to  give  up  a  craving  for  the  good  opinion  of  the  world. 
Undue  love  of  praise,  of  distinction,  of  fame,  will 
often,  like  the  dispossessed  Canaanites,  lurk  in  their 
old  holds.  Love  of  ease,  self-indulgence,  leading  to 
indolent  habits  and  very  ineffective  service,  find 
many  a  victim,  especially  in  places  far  removed 
from  the  centres  of  life  and  influence.  It  is  hard  to 
see  how  indolent,  self-indulgent  men  can  deem  them- 
selves servants  of  Christ.  We  do  not  speak  of  those 
who  enter  the  priest's  office  that  they  may  eat  a  bit  of 
bread, — it  is  no  wonder  if  the  current  of  their  lives 
becomes  carnal,  and  their  alienation  from  Christ 
complete.  We  speak  of  those  who  enter  the  minis- 
trv  with  an  honest  desire  to  be  useful  in  the  highest 
of  all  ways— in  turning  many  to  righteousness — but 
who,  being  destitute  of  thorough  consecration,  fall 
under  lowering  influences,  are  content  just  to  keep 
things  going,  and  do  nothing  effectual  for  building 
up  their  Master's  kingdom.  Place  their  indolence 
and  self-indulgence  alongside  Christ's  whole-hearted 
self-surrender.  His  unwearied  devotion  of  every 
energy  to  the  good  of  men  and  the  glory  of  the 


THE,  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  57 

Father,  and  what  trace  of  resemblance  can  you  find 
between  them  ? 

Ought  a  Christian  minister  then  to  take  no 
interest  in  anything  except  the  immediate  work 
of  his  calling  ?  Are  literature,  art,  science,  society, 
general  culture,  simply  snares  which  it  would  be  his 
best  and  wisest  course  to  eschew  for  ever  ?  In  some 
cases  it  may  be  so.  Some  department  of  mission  or 
of  pastoral  work  may  be  so  urgent,  it  may  demand 
such  constant  attention,  it  may  provide  such  blessed 
opportunities  for  the  highest  usefulness,  that  his 
true  course  is  to  give  himself  wholly  to  it,  to  follow 
Christ  exclusively,  and  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead. 
If  any  true  man  feels  called  to  this  course,  let  him 
have  all  honour  for  it.  Never  let  his  want  of 
literature  or  culture  or  art  be  any  reproach,  if,  like 
his  Master,  he  has  thrown  them  aside,  not  because 
he  despises  them,  but  because  he  feels  his  work  so 
great,  his  race  so  lu-gent,  that  he  must  devote  him- 
self to  it  alone ! 

For  more  ordinary  men  in  the  ministry  the 
demand  of  duty  may  be,  not  to  discard  all  such 
things,  but  to  try  to  use  and  consecrate  them.  By 
God's  blessing  they  may  be  made  helpful  in  the 
Lord's  work.  Genius  and  all  its  gifts  may  be  used 
in  the  service  of  Christ  for  the  good  of  man.  Learn- 
ing may  be  devoted  to  the  highest  uses.  Culture 
may  become  the  handmaid  of  high  Christian  useful- 
ness. But  the  Christian  minister  must  look  well  to 
it,  that  he  and  all  he  has  are  truly  consecrated  to 
Christ's  service.  Even  good  men  are  so  liable  to 
reserve  little  stores  for  personal  gratification,  that 
there  is  an  imminent  danger  of  self-deceit. 


58  THE  INNER  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

Would  only  we  had  a  host  of  truly  and  thoroughly 
consecrated  ministers !  Stagnation  would  be  un- 
known in  the  Church  ;  life  would  spring  up  even  in 
the  most  barren  desert;  the  glory  of  Carmel  and 
Sharon  would  appear  throughout  all  her  borders. 


CHAPTEE   IV. 

OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

The  public  ministry  of  our  Lord  falls  into  three 
main  divisions.  First,  His  early  ministry  in  Judaea, 
of  which  John  only  takes  any  notice,  and  of  which 
he  records  but  a  few  incidents.  It  is  plain,  how- 
ever, that  our  Lord  began  His  work  in  Jerusalem 
and  the  neighbourhood,  deeming  the  ancient  capital 
the  right  place  for  Him  to  present  His  commission 
and  set  up  His  kingdom ;  and  it  was  only  when 
John  the  Baptist  was  cast  into  prison,  and  perse- 
cution was  manifestly  impending  on  Himself,  that 
"  He  left  Judaea  and  departed  into  Galilee  "  (Matt. 
iv.  12;  John  iv.  1-3).  Second,  His  Galilean  ministry, 
occupying  probably  two  years,  and  embracing  three 
circuits  of  Galilee,  varied  by  excursions  to  places 
more  distant,  such  as  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon, 
and  by  visits  to  feasts  at  Jerusalem.  Of  this  part 
of  His  ministry  the  fullest  account  is  given  us  by 
Matthew.  Third,  the  ministry  after  the  transfigura- 
tion, when  His  face  was  set  towards  Jerusalem, 
embracing  several  tours  and  detours,  on  the  way 
and  after  His  arrival  there.  Of  the  journey  towards 
Jerusalem  we  have  the  fullest  account  in  Luke; 
while  of  the  events  connected  with  the  last  days, 


60  OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

the  narrative  of  John  is  the  most  copious  and  the 
most  touching. 

The  whole  of  this  public  ministry  is  commonly 
believed  to  have  extended  to  about  three  years, 
though  opinions  have  prevailed  that  it  was  as  short 
as  one  year,^  and  also  that  it  was  considerably  longer 
than  three.  It  is  by  studying  the  references  to  the 
feasts,  mainly  as  given  in  the  fourth  Gospel,  that 
w^e  arrive  at  three  years,  or  perhaps  a  little  more,  as 
the  true  duration  of  the  ministry.  In  that  little 
space,  and  mainly  in  the  rough,  wild  province  of 
Galilee,  Jesus  did  a  work  which  changed  for  all 
time  the  complexion  of  the  world's  history,  and 
exalted  immeasurably  the  life  and  the  destinies  of 
men. 

Keeping  in  view,  then,  the  shortness  of  the  time 
occupied  in  this  unexampled  work,  we  notice — 

I.  First,  the  systematic  industry,  diligence,  and  self- 
command  which  characterised  our  Lord  from  the 
beginning  to  the  very  end.  In  regard  to  the 
Galilean  ministry,  we  are  led  to  understand  that 
His  itineracy  there  embraced,  to  say  the  least,  a 
large  proportion  of  its  towns  and  villages.  Even 
when  we  make  allowance  for  the  freedom  with 
which  general  expressions  like  "  all "  and  "  whole  " 
are  often  used  in  Oriental  speech,  we  must  hold 
that  the  visits  were  very  comprehensive  which 
Matthew  thus  characterises: — "Jesus  went  about 
all  the  cities  and  villages,  teaching  in  their  syna- 

1  Keim,  one  of  the  most  recent  neological  writers  on  the 
life  of  Clirist,  contends  elaborately  that  the  whole  public 
ministry  was  comprised  in  one  year  ;  but  to  make  out  his  case 
he  throws  overboard  the  Fourth  Gospel. 


OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  61 

gogues.  and  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom, 
and  healing  every  sickness  and  every  disease  among 
the  people"  (ix.  35).  We  learn  from  Josephus  that 
in  Galilee  there  were  204  towns  and  villages,  so 
that  if  most  of  these  were  embraced  in  Christ's 
personal  visits,  the  labour  involved  must  have  been 
very  great.  The  same  impression  of  most  abundant 
labour  is  derived  from  the  figurative  expression  of 
John,  that  if  all  the  mighty  works  of  Jesus  were  re- 
corded, the  world  itself  would  not  be  able  to  contain 
the  books  that  should  be  written.  Besides  making 
these  circuits  of  Galilee,  we  read  of  His  visiting  the 
remoter  north,  at  Csesarea-Philippi,  and  the  remoter 
north-west,  in  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon;  we 
know  of  His  passing  oftener  than  once  through 
Samaria ;  we  know  too  of  His  being  on  the  east  side 
of  Jordan,  and  coming  up  from  the  Jordan  valley  by 
Jericho;  and  we  are  familiar  with  His  frequent 
visits  to  Jerusalem.  Strange  to  say,  the  only  dis- 
tricts of  the  country  where  we  do  not  read  of  His 
having  been  during  His  public  ministry  are,  that 
classical  region  of  the  Old  Testament — the  tribe  of 
Judah,  embracing  His  own  birthplace,  Bethlehem, 
as  well  as  Hebron  and  Beersheba,  the  haunts  of  the 
patriarchs ;  and  likewise  the  Shephelah,  or  maritime 
plain,  embracing  the  land  of  the  Philistines  and  the 
plain  of  Sharon.  But  though  there  be  no  record  of 
such  visits,  it  does  not  follow  that  none  took  place. 

Throughout  every  part  of  the  wide  district  which 
He  traversed,  He  not  only  preached,  and  taught,  and 
healed,  but  He  had  numberless  collisions  with  op- 
ponents ;  He  lived  under  constant  apprehensions  of 
attack,  whether  by  fraud  or  violence ;  He  carried  on 


62  OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

the  work  of  instructing  and  training  the  apostles, 
and  in  their  slowness  of  heart,  want  of  faith,  child- 
ishness, and  paltry  strifes,  He  encountered  a  serious 
addition  to  His  burdens,  although  it  would  be  harsh 
to  suppose  that  on  the  whole  their  company  did  not 
afford  Him  both  refreshment  and  aid.  From  His 
nature  being  so  communicative  and  social,  Jesus 
enjoyed  society,  and,  with  all  their  failings,  these 
rough  but  honest  and  warm-hearted  fisher-lads  must 
on  the  whole  have  been  a  real  acquisition.  The  strain 
on  the  bodily  energies  in  a  life  involving  so  much 
movement  and  labour  must  have  been  very  great ; 
still  greater  must  have  been  the  strain  on  the  mind 
where  there  was  so  much  excitement,  and  where 
interests  so  serious  were  at  stake.  From  the  fact  that 
the  Jews  spoke  of  fifty  years  as  the  limit  of  age 
which  He  had  not  passed,  although  He  might  be 
approaching  it  (John  viii.  56),  it  is  probable  that  He 
had  acquired  that  older  look  which  is  commonly 
produced  by  great  mental  and  bodily  strain. 

Through  all  this  immense  labour  our  Lord  appears 
to  have  passed  with  quite  marvellous  calmness  and 
self-possession.  From  the  narrative  of  His  life 
nothing  is  more  remote  than  the  air  of  bustle  or 
hurry  ; — there  is  indeed  about  it  a  wonderful  aspect 
as  of  Oriental  calm  and  leisure.  Though  we 
read  of  His  resting  through  exhaustion  at  Jacob's 
well ;  of  His  being,  with  His  disciples,  so  pressed 
by  the  multitude,  that  they  had  no  time  so  much  as 
to  eat  bread ;  of  His  having  to  get  into  a  boat  to 
escape  the  pressure ;  and  of  His  inviting  His  dis- 
ciples to  come  into  a  desert  place  and  rest  a  while, 
there  is  no  trace  of  flutter  or  discomposure;  His 


OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  63 

movements  are  as  orderly  and  deliberate  as  if  He 
had  enjoyed  the  most  ample  leisure. 

It  is  evident  that  this  diligence  and  industry 
must  have  been  the  effect  of  a  remarkable  power 
of  arrangement.  It  has  been  remarked  that  the 
faculty  of  order  was  quite  a  feature  of  the  Hebrew 
mind.^  It  was  conspicuous  in  Abraham,  Joseph, 
Moses,  Gideon,  David,  Solomon,  Ezra,  Nehemiah, 
and  a  host  of  other  Hebrews.  It  is  very  remarkable 
in  our  Lord.  We  see  it  in  the  symmetrical  character 
of  His  discourses ;  we  see  it  in  the  mission  of  the 
twelve  and  of  the  seventy ;  we  trace  it  in  some  of 
His  allusions,  as  when  He  supposes  a  man  about  to 
build  a  tower,  sitting  down  to  calculate  whether  he 
have  enough  to  finish  it,  or  a  king  going  out  to  war 
considering  whether  his  ten  thousand  are  a  match 
for  his  opponent's  twenty;  we  see  it  moreover  in 
the  miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes,  and  in  the 
instructions  to  the  two  disciples  for  celebrating  the 
Passover ;  in  a  word,  we  see  it  in  every  arrangement 
of  our  Lord's  public  life.  That  our  Lord  worked  by 
system,  and  could  not  otherwise  have  got  through 
His  work,  is  plain  as  noonday  to  all  who  know  the 
difference  between  systematic  and  random  working. 
It  may  be  thought  a  mechanical  way  of  work ;  hours 
and  laws,  we  may  be  told,  were  made  for  slaves; 
and  it  may  be  extolled  as  a  higher  life  where  one 
obeys  the  impulse  of  the  hour,  and  is  free  to  catch 
and  follow  whatever  gales  of  inspiration  may  at  any 
time  come  upon  one.  No  doubt,  one  may  be  bound 
by  lines  too  hard  and  too  fast ;  and  for  our  part  we 

1  See  Isaac  Taylor's  JRemarJcs  on  Colensd'a  Strictures  on  the 
PentateucK 


64  OUTER  FEA.TURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

deem  a  little  elasticity  an  advantage  in  any  system, 
— a  power  of  adapting  it  to  emergencies  as  they 
arise.  But  those  who  are  habitually  systematic  will 
probably  find  that  they  coni^  to  be  comparatively 
independent  of  fitful  impulses  and  inspirations,  and 
that  their  faculties  come  to  them,  to  use  Milton's 
phrase,  as  nimble  servitors  whenever  their  aid  is 
sought. 

We  hold  then  that  we  may  well  claim  our  Lord 
as  showing  the  value  of  system  as  an  aid  to  the 
spirit  of  industry  in  labour.  And  partly  no  doubt 
through  this  habit.  He  was  habitually  leforehand 
in  His  work.  He  was  always  ready.  His  dis- 
courses have  a  wonderfully  finished  air,  as  if  they 
had  been  matured  before  they  were  spoken.  His 
very  answers  to  casual  objectors  were  marvellously 
clean-cut  and  finished.  He  was  never  disconcerted 
or  at  a  loss  how  to  answer  or  to  act.  His  presence 
of  mind  never  deserted  Him.  And  what  is  very 
remarkable,  He  never  allowed  one  thing  to  jostle 
another  in  His  mind,  however  full  it  may  have  been 
of  projects,  and  however  burdened  with  anxieties. 

This  marvellous  orderliness  and  business-like 
composure  come  out  strikingly  in  connection  with 
the  last  scenes  of  His  life.  Who  can  conceive  the 
burden  that  was  then  pressing  on  His  soul  ?  Yet 
nothing  could  exceed  the  deliberate  forethought 
and  systematic  regularity  with  which  everything 
w^as  planned  and  arranged.  There  are  instances  in 
private  life  familiar  to  us  all  of  dying  persons 
giving  minute  directions  about  their  funeral,  or  of 
persons  struck  by  a  sudden  calamity,  thinking  as 
calmly  of  the  details   of  necessary  business  as  if 


OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  65 

no  such  blow  had  falleD.  But  no  instance  can  ap- 
proach the  case  of  our  Lord.  Calmly  and  minutely 
He  describes  to  the  two  disciples  the  arrangements 
to  be  made  for  keeping  the  passover.  Assembled 
with  the  twelve,  He  deliberately  girds  Himself, .;. 
pours  water  into  a  basin,  washes  the  feet  of  the  '' 
disciples,  deals  with  the  objections  of  Peter,  explains 
the  figurative  import  of  the  act,  and  enforces  the 
example  which  it  supplies.  With  equal  calmness, 
He  institutes  the  holiest  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
Christian  religion,  giving  calm  utterance  to  the 
few  but  memorable  words  which  were  to  be  re- 
peated on  the  most  solemn  occasions  in  the  liistory 
of  His  Church  till  His  second  coming,  and  to  be 
the  vehicle  of  the  most  profound  impressions  of 
salvation  through  His  blood.  Then  with  a  courage 
which  none  can  know  who  have  never  needed  to 
break  in  on  the  calm  peace  of  a  gathering  of  friends 
by  some  appalling  announcement.  He  exposes  the 
treachery  of  Judas.  With  equal  calmness,  He 
rebukes  the  confidence  of  Peter.  If  any  docu- 
ments in  the  world  bear  the  stamp  of  self-posses- 
sion and  repose,  it  is  the  farewell  address  and  the 
intercessory  prayer.  But  the  agony  in  the  garden 
lets  us  see  what  a  hurricane  was  raging,  and  how 
great  was  the  effort  needed  to  maintain  the  calm. 

On  the  cross  we  have  renewed  evidence  both  of  the 
conflict  and  the  victory.  What  a  power  of  think- 
ing of  others  did  He  show  all  through  these  last 
scenes !  Uttering  a  discourse  so  full  of  consola- 
tion ;  offering  such  a  prayer ;  healing  the  ear  of 
Malchus;  casting  that  look  of  tender  rebuke  on 
Peter;  bidding  the  daughters   of  JerTisalem  wee]p 


E 


66  OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

not  for  Him  but  for  themselves  and  for  tlieir  chil- 
dren ;  praying  for  His  murderers ;  gladdening  the 
heart  of  the  penitent  thief ;  committing  His  mother 
with  so  simple  kindliness  to  the  care  of  John ;  and 
leaving  as  His  last  legacy  to  the  faith  of  His  dis- 
ciples that  glorious  word,  rereXea-Tai,  It  is  finished  ! 
In  fine :  in  our  Lord's  whole  demeanour  on  this 
memorable  occasion  we  see  the  triumph  of  two 
things ; — the  power  of  a  well-ordered  mind  to  give 
its  whole  attention  to  the  proper  business  of  each 
moment, — not  to  let  duties  or  occupations  jostle  one 
another,  not  to  let  the  shadow  of  the  more  distant 
disturb  the  more  immediate ;  and  second,  the  power 
of  a  noble  mind  to  throw  off  consciousness  of  itself 
even  when  its  case  might  seem  all-absorbing ;  the 
triumph  of  a  mind,  as  the  hymn  puts  it, 

"At  leisure  from  itself,  to  sootlie  and  sympathise." 

II.  Another  very  prominent  feature  of  our  Lords 
ministry  was  its  variety  and  naturalness  of  metJiod. 

Speech  having  been  His  great  instrument  of  in- 
struction, He  made  use  of  it  in  many  forms.  Dis- 
courses, parables,  proverbs,  texts  of  Scripture, 
conversation,  controversy — were  among  the  forms 
of  speech  which  He  addressed  to  men.  The  places 
where  He  spoke  showed  a  like  variety.  In  the 
synagogue,  in  the  temple,  in  the  street,  on  moun- 
tains, in  plains,  in  private  houses,  at  the  dining- 
table,  at  the  bedside,  at  the  well-side,  at  the  seaside, 
by  the  wayside,  from  the  boat-side,  in  journeys  by 
land,  in  journeys  by  sea.  He  spoke  the  word  of 
God.  Now  He  defended  Himself  from  the  misre- 
presentations of  opponents,  and  now  He  assumed 


OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  67 

the  offensive,  and  by  well-planted  blows,  exposed 
their  hollowness  and  hypocrisy.  Semper,  uhique, 
om^iibus,  might  have  been  His  motto,  for  the  word 
of  God  was  a  burning  fire  shut  up  in  His  bones, 
and  He  could  not  stay. 

Here,  however,  one  remarks  an  apparent  excep- 
tion : — Our  Lord  wrote  nothing.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence of  His  having  ever  reduced  permanently  to 
writing  so  much  as  a  single  scrap.  The  only  men- 
tion of  His  writing  is  His  writing  on  the  ground 
when  the  woman  was  brought  to  Him  charged  with 
adultery.  The  Epistle  to  Abgarus,  King  of  Edessa, 
mentioned  by  some  early  writers,  is  now  universally 
given  up,  though  learned  doctors  and  even  bishops 
have,  in  their  day,  contended  for  its  genuineness. 
Even  if  it  were  otherwise,  it  is  too  trifling  a  pro- 
duction to  make  any  real  exception.  But  though 
Christ  wrote  nothing  personally.  He  virtually  wrote 
much.  Qui  facit  per  alterum,  facit  xjer  se.  His 
spoken  words  were  destined  to  be  changed  into 
written  words.  No  one  who  reflects  on  the  extent 
and  exhaustiveness  of  our  Lord's  personal  labours 
will  wonder  that  in  the  brief  period  of  His  ministry, 
He  confined  Himself  to  oral  teaching.  He  knew 
that  His  life  and  His  work  would  not  want  his- 
torians, and  that  trustworthy  records  would  be 
written,  that  would  carry  them  down  to  the  end 
of  time.  He  had  marvellous  faith  in  the  perma- 
nence of  His  words,  though  unrecorded  and  unre- 
vised  by  Him.  Heaven  and  earth  would  pass  away, 
but  His  words,  though  then  unwritten,  would  not 
pass  away.  He  could  assure  His  disciples  that  the 
lovins  act  of  the  woman  who  had  anointed  Him 


68  OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

would  be  proclaimed  wherever  His  gospel  should 
come. 

But  amid  all  His  variety  of  method,  He  was 
singularly  unconventional.  He  did  not  confine  Him- 
self to  consecrated  places,  nor  canonical  hours,  nor 
professional  methods.  He  did  not  seek  the  shelter  of 
professional  propriety,  delivering  a  serious  discourse 
when  it  was  deemed  the  right  thing  to  do ;  and  at 
other  times  conforming  to  the  spirit  of  the  world, 
and  conducting  Himself  simply  as  an  agreeable 
member  of  worldly  society.  What  He  taught  in 
public,  He  was  earnest  to  impress  in  private.  He 
was  instant  in  season,  out  of  season.  And  the  state 
of  mind  that  made  Him  so  was  the  great  secret  of 
His  power.  Even  the  world  lias  little  respect  for 
the  mere  professional  preacher.  One  who  speaks 
from  his  brief  is  little  thought  of,  compared  to  one 
who  speaks  from  his  head.  And  ^he  man  that 
speaks  from  his  head  cannot  confine  himself  to 
mere  public  occasions — he  cannot  but  speak  what 
he  has  seen  and  heard. 

No  doubt,  in  a  settled  state  of  things,  there  is 
something  to  be  said  for  conventionality.  But 
there  is  little  to  be  said  for  the  man  that  can  serve 
his  Master  only  in  conventional  ways.  He  is 
tempted  to  lose  sight  of  his  Master  altogether.  He 
is  liable  to  forget  the  great  end  at  which  he  ought 
to  aim.  To  go  through  the  allotted  routine  of 
"  duty,"  more  or  less  respectably  as  he  may  be  able, 
is  his  main  concern.  Whether  he  may  not  in  this 
way  be  wasting  half  his  energies  or  more,  whether 
by  methods  more  simple,  more  direct,  more  Christ- 
like, he  might  not  accomplish  much  more  good,  is 


OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  69 

no  question  for  him.  He  does  the  work  which  he 
is  required  to  do,  and  that  satisfies  his  conscience. 
But  does  it  satisfy  his  Master  ?  Is  there  not  much 
for  us  to  think  of,  and  to  try  to  follow  in  that  free, 
unconventional  method  of  influencing  others  of 
which  our  Lord  sets  us  so  bright  an  example  ? 
Have  not  all  great  evangelists,  all  successful  minis- 
ters, followed  it  more  or  less  ?  And  in  reference  to 
the  two  ways  of  work,  in  these  settled  times,  con- 
ventional and  unconventional,  may  not  a  combina- 
tion of  both  be  the  rule  incumbent  on  us,  as  if  our 
Master  repeated  to  us  His  own  words,  "  These  ought 
ye  to  do,  and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone  "  ? 

III.  Not  less  remarkable,  among  the  outer  features 
of  our  Lord's  ministry,  was  its  comhination  of  appar- 
ently opposite  qualities. 

1.  Thus,  first,  we  find  it  combining  quite  re- 
markably the  popular  and  the  profound.  The 
whole  style  of  His  ministry  was  popular — matter, 
manner,  and  form.  He  never  spoke  as  a  meta- 
physician; dealt  not  in  "abstract  and  concrete," 
"  subjective  and  objective,"  "  positive  and  negative," 
or  in  any  scholastic  terms  or  forms  whatever.  Yet 
His  teaching  was  profound  in  the  truest  sense  and 
highest  degree.  It  went  right  to  the  heart  of  things, 
and  brought  out,  clear  and  strong,  their  profoundest 
lessons.  One  might  elaborate  the  idea  of  God's 
fatherhood  through  philosopliical  volumes  without 
settling  the  matter  for  ever  as  Jesus  did  by  His 
happy  "  how  much  more : "  "  If  ye  that  are  evil 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children, 
how  much  more   shall  your  Father  which  is  in 


70  OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

heaven  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask 
Him?"  His  allusion  to  the  lilies  as  they  grow 
brought  out  the  right  and  privilege  of  children  to 
repose  in  the  thoughtful  care  of  the  great  Father, 
in  a  way  that,  instead  of  bitter  anxiety,  fills  one's 
life  with  repose  and  expectation.  "No  man  can 
serve  two  masters  "  solves  a  thousand  questions  of 
casuistry,  as  it  exposes  at  the  same  time  a  thousand 
hollow  schemes  of  life  where  men  vainly  strive  to 
achieve  the  impossible.  It  was  in  the  application 
of  Divine  truth  to  the  human  heart  that  Christ 
showed  such  profundity — that  He  so  surely  and 
steadily  hit  the  nail  upon  the  head.  Other  teachers 
might  say  on  a  subject  much  that  was  good  and  true; 
but  Christ  brought  out  its  very  pith  and  marrow, 
presenting  it  with  a  clearness  that  no  understanding 
could  refuse,  and  with  a  force  that  no  conscience 
could  withstand. 

2.  Similar  to  this  combination  is  that  of  homeliness 
and  suUimity,  The  whole  tenor  of  his  conversations 
and  discourses  was  homely;  his  illustrations  were 
drawn  from  the  commonest  sights  of  earth,  and  the 
homeliest  occupations  of  men.  The  pursuits  of  the 
farmer  and  the  fisherman,  the  builder  and  the  vine- 
dresser, the  shepherd  whose  sheep  had  wandered,  the 
woman  that  had  lost  her  piece  of  silver,  furnished  texts 
for  His  parables  and  discourses.  Yet  with  these 
homely  illustrations,  to  what  heights  He  rose  !  What 
glorious  truths  He  brought  down  from  heaven  by 
means  of  the  lost  sheep,  the  lost  piece  of  silver,  and 
the  prodigal  son !  Who  would  have  thought  that  a 
poor  woman's  pleasure  in  recovering  a  trifling  coin 
could  be  allied  to  feelings  that  thrill  the  hearts  of 


CCTEB  F1ATOE3S  m  EI?  ICyiHTjLX  71 


tibesoidoCGod 
HiMdf?  WhoirnddlniefiNa^mllKlMMiif 
tiad^  itf  ^flbe  dbcfiMnl  dividliiig  Mi  siiap  finm  Ak 
^BBrtii^  a  pielne  of  iiafc  dnead  flcae  irfwt  flMdl  and 

daKiatibeliodf?   Qnribomdd 

Id  be  delated  fD  tibe  leiid  oC  Oe 

«I  wai  a  tfraiyr  aad  jfe  took  aie 


nd  UuL  VmaSOj 
at]laiilifeci;faei 
its  sl^s  widk  thialjr 
Bat  im  Clnirt  tiboe  was  a  Kandkal^ 
of  iMdft-fif  tibe  emd  kad  aad  flie 
of  ddibaafioa  aad  tibe 
af  aeaL  Sb  iriaj  aoal  gses  oai  la  Hit 
Hiov  dftea  ipoald  I  kave 
ikf  fWiiira  togiiSka  as  a  hem.  gjllwirth 
herdbidkeMaaderiet  aisffl^aad  jeiwwJd  aoir 
Tdt  olfimnB  alofc  ladt  He  dHi«%  fii 
Hk  waj  cf  JMMimJbias  tibe  aaana  oC 
Hk  finfc  Iddiig  He  does  is  lo  adE  a  £nmr  of 
^GifeaielDdiiBk.*  Wkifc  a  kaoaledge  of  Inana 
aatan  if  dma  ia  ObS  U  aiij  oae  tibiaks  tibsd 
}iHi  aie  kfildag  dowa  oa  bna,  tibe  liert  w:gr  to 
kiai  is  to  adc  a  snail  £n7oar  of  Ma^  te  la 
joa  anke  jamtsdi  for  tibe  aaaaeat  fck 

po^kifli  a  load  of  dtliitifft  flni 


72  OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

thus  conciliates  him.  Have  we  not  seen  some  rude 
wild  boy  of  tlie  street  pleased  when  w^e  approached 
him  respectfully,  and  asked  him  if  he  could  tell 
us  where  a  neighbour  lived — have  we  not  seen  him 
bound  before  us  to  the  very  top  of  some  high  stair, 
much  gratified  at  being  asked  to  be  our  guide? 
Consider,  in  the  like  way,  our  Lord's  tact  in  dealing 
with  Simon  the  leper.  As  Simon  sees  the  woman 
in  his  house  washing  Jesus'  feet,  a  little  tumult 
gathers  in  his  breast.  Christ  does  not  attack  it  at 
once,  to  show  its  unreasonableness.  He  looks  in- 
quiringly at  His  host  and  says,  "Simon,  I  have 
somewhat  to  say  unto  thee."  To  what  magical 
secret  do  these  words  owe  their  tranquillising  power? 
To  the  tact  that  first  asks  leave,  as  it  were,  to  speak, 
when  something  like  reproof  is  to  be  administered. 
And  then  to  the  further  exercise  of  tact  that  puts 
the  reproof  in  a  parable,  and  that  asks  Simon  him- 
self to  give  judgment  in  the  case.  In  fact,  Simon 
administers  his  own  reproof.  Even  the  subtle  power 
of  so  small  a  thing  as  repeating  a  person's  name  in 
order  to  make  a  reproof  more  tender,  does  not  escape 
the  notice  of  Jesus  :  "  Martha,  Martha,  thou  art 
careful  and  troubled  about  many  things  ; "  "  Simon, 
Simon,  Satan  hath  desired  to  have  you  ; "  "0  Jeru- 
salem, Jerusalem,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered 
thy  children  together  .  .  .  but  ye  would  not." 

4.  Combination  of  faithfulness  and  Jcindliness. 
He  could  be  kind  to  the  sinner  while  He  detested 
and  rebuked  his  sin.  Pharisaism  confounded  these 
two  things,  and  vindicated  its  contemptuous  treat- 
ment of  the  sinner  on  the  ground  of  the  vileness  of 
his  sin.      And  there  is  always  some  tendency  to 


OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  73 

this  wliere  the  besetting  sin  is  of  a  repulsive  and 
provoking  character.  In  the  case  of  Jesus  it  is 
otherwise ;  He  receives  the  sinner  to  His  heart,  and 
He  dies  for  his  sin.  This  union  of  faithfulness  and 
kindliness  was  evinced  on  many  occasions  of  His 
earthly  life.  We  see  it  in  the  case  of  the  young 
man  who  had  great  possessions,  on  whom  Christ 
looked  with  such  affection,  but  to  whom  He  presented 
a  test  of  such  stringent  severity,  in  order  to  show 
him  that  he  did  not  love  his  neighbour  as  himself. 
We  see  it  in  the  case  of  the  woman  with  the  issue 
of  blood,  in  whom  true  faith  and  gross  superstition 
were  so  strangely  blended ;  Jesus  at  once  rebuking 
her  superstition  and  rewarding  her  faith.  We  see 
it  in  His  treatment  of  publicans  and  sinners;  He 
did  not  shrink  from  being  called  their  Friend,  yet 
every  feeling  of  His  soul  was  against  their  wicked- 
ness, and  He  never  ceased  to  testify  that  unless  they 
were  converted,  they  could  never  see  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 

5.  Combination  of  power  to  enlighten  honest  in- 
quirers, and  reprove  dishonest  cavillers.  The  one  He 
advanced  to  further  knowledge  of  the  kingdom  of 
God;  the  other,  incapable  through  the  rebellion  of 
their  hearts,  of  appreciating  or  even  understanding 
the  order  of  the  kingdom.  He  showed  the  more 
clearly  to  deserve  condemnation.  This  double  pur- 
pose, as  He  Himself  told  His  disciples,  was  the 
occasion  of  some  of  His  parables.  They  presented 
truth  under  a  veil,  sufficiently  transparent  for  the 
eager  heart  to  penetrate,  but  not  transparent  enough 
for  the  careless,  or  for  the  hostile  caviller.  There  was 
light  enough  to  attract   the   honest  inquirer,  and 


74  OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

dimness  enough  to  scare  away  the  worldly  mind. 
Here,  it  is  plain,  our  Lord  took  up  ground  of  His 
own ;  so  judicial  a  task  is  not  laid  on  His  fol- 
lowers. Our  duty  is  to  make  the  vision  plain  to 
all,  that  he  may  run  that  readeth ;  it  is  not  for  us 
to  determine  to  whom  we  shall  be  the  savour  of 
life  to  life,  or  to  whom  the  savour  of  death  to 
death. 

6.  Combination  of  humility  and  majesty.  Is  there 
need  for  illustration  here  ?  The  homely,  unassum- 
ing bearing  of  our  Lord  in  all  the  relations  of 
life  is  one  of  the  great  charms  of  His  character. 
Yet  how  boundless  His  claims  to  honour !  "  Before 
Abraham  was,  I  am;"  "I  and  my  Father  are  one;" 
"  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father." 
With  what  calm  but  high  dignity,  too,  did  our  Lord 
exercise  His  powers,  and  dispense  His  gifts!  "I 
will,  be  thou  clean;"  "Son,  thy  sins  be  forgiven 
thee ;"  "  Lazarus,  come  forth."  "With  all  His  home- 
liness there  is  a  profound  sense  of  His  personal 
dignity,  and  a  sublime  consciousness  of  power. 
"We  were  witnesses  of  his  majesty,"  says  Peter, 
"when  we  were  with  him  on  the  mount."  Here, 
too,  our  glorious  Lord  stands  in  a  position  all  His 
own.  We  gaze  on  His  person  across  an  infinite 
gulf.  Yet  even  here  the  combination  has  features 
for  our  imitation.  There  is  an  essential  dignity  in 
the  office  of  a  Christian  minister,  not  to  be  sacrificed 
to  the  spirit  of  good-fellowship,  or  geniality,  or  jest- 
ing. It  imposes  a  certain  restraint  on  our  mirthful 
and  frivolous  moods.  While  we  follow  Christ  in 
being  among  our  people  as  one  that  serveth,  we  are 
to  follow  Him  in  never  forgetting  our  relation  to 


OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY.  75 

tlie  Idngdom  of  God.  Avoidiug  the  extremes  of 
lordly  arrogance  and  of  frivolous  familiarity;  magni- 
fying our  office,  yet  making  ourselves  of  no  reputa- 
tion— we  are  to  try  to  combine  the  spirit  of  two 
apparently  opposite  functions,  servants  of  servants, 
and  ambassadors  of  the  King. 

IV.  We  note  a  fourth  general  feature  of  our  Lord's 
ministry — its  catholicity.  This  quality  is  apparent, 
not  only  in  the  wide-reaching  hints  and  instructions 
as  to  the  extent  of  His  kingdom  which  He  gave 
from  time  to  time,  but  likewise  in  His  bearing 
toward  the  different  classes  of  society  with  whom 
He  came  into  contact  at  home.  Himself  a  man  of. 
the  people,  He  had  all  that  sympathy  with  the 
toiling  multitude  which  gains  their  affection,  and 
draws  their  respect  and  confidence.  A  son  of 
labour.  He  could  throw  out  His  invitations  with 
the  thrilling  power  of  one  who  understands  what 
weariness  means :  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest."  Yet,  while  full  of  this  fellow-feeling  for  the 
children  of  toil.  He  had  no  recoil  from  the  other 
classes  of  society,  and  no  want  of  will  to  help  them, 
and  to  bless  them  when  they  showed  a  desire  to 
enjoy  His  gifts.  The  nobleman  at  Cana,  the 
centurion  at  Capernaum,  the  Pharisee  that  enter- 
tained Him  in  his  house,  Zaccheus  the  rich  publi- 
can of  Jericho,  Nicodemus  who  came  to  Him  by 
night,  the  lawyer  who  asked  what  he  could  do  to 
inherit  eternal  life,  were  all  regarded  by  Jesus  with 
interest  and  affection.  Utterly  indifferent  to  their 
wealth,  and  having  no  vestige  of  desire  for  any 


76  OUTER  FEATURES  OF  HIS  MINISTEY. 

part  of  it,  He  simply  looked  on  them  as  men  and 
brothers,  groaning  under  the  curse  of  Adam,  and  as 
much  in  need  as  the  most  miserable  outcast,  of  the 
grace  of  God.  And  thus  the  ministry  of  Christ  has 
this  feature — it  is  specially  attractive  to  the  burden- 
bearing  mass,  but  it  is  not  repulsive  to  any  section 
of  the  social  community.  "The  common  people 
heard  him  gladly:"  but  no  class  of  people  as  such 
could  find  anything  to  repel  them.  And,  in  point 
of  fact,  the  religion  of  Christ  has  never  been  con- 
fined to  one  class  or  section.  It  has  sustained  its 
early  character  throughout.  While  offering  special 
attractions  to  the  poor,  and  while  finding  not  only 
the  largest  number  but  the  largest  proportion  of  its 
adherents  among  them,  it  has  never  wanted  repre- 
sentatives, and  often  they  have  been  very  noble 
representatives,  from  the  cultured,  the  leisurely,  the 
wealthy  sections  of  society.  It  is  a  religion  alike 
for  sage  and  savage,  for  prince  and  peasant,  for 
barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  and  free.  And  when  it 
reaches  its  final  triumph,  the  kings  of  the  earth 
shall  be  seen  bringing  their  glory  and  honour  into 
the  new  Jerusalem.  Not  only  the  hereditary  or 
other  rulers  of  this  territory  or  of  that,  but  kings  in 
a  hiojher  sense — the  kinois  of  intellect,  the  kiu^js  of 
art,  the  kings  of  eloquence,  the  kings  of  social 
influence.  Many  a  voice  will  blend  in  that  lofty 
anthem,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to 
receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength, 
and  honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing." 


CHAPTEE   V. 

BEGINNING  OF   HIS   ^IINISTRY  IN   JUD.EA. 

It  is  seldom  that  searchers  for  the  sources  of 
great  rivers  find  anything  there  that  bears  a  visible 
proportion  to  the  grandeur  of  the  stream.  The 
wonderful  fountains  of  Herodotus  have  been  found 
by  no  explorer  of  the  Nile.  Usually  the  waters 
begin  to  gather  in  some  fiat,  oozy  bed,  and  the  first 
trickling  of  the  stream  can  hardly  be  distinguished. 
Nevertheless,  in  a  geographical  sense,  the  source  of 
a  great  river  is  a  phenomenon  of  deepest  interest, 
for  the  movement  that  begins  so  languidly  in  the 
marshy  level,  gives  birth  to  a  current  deep  and 
broad,  that  carries  the  commerce  of  kingdoms  on 
its  bosom,  and  on  its  banks  rears  cities  that  hold 
intercourse  with  the  globe. 

When  we  trace  the  ministry  of  Jesus  to  its  begin- 
nings, we  may  perhaps  share  the  feeling  of  the 
explorer,  and  be  somewhat  disappointed  not  to  find 
there  anything  imposingly  great.  Our  Lord  seems 
to  slide  gradually  into  His  work  rather  than  at  once 
mount  His  throne  and  wield  His  sceptre.  But 
there  is  always  an  interest,  though  it  may  be  a  quiet 
interest,  in  the  beginning  of  great  undertakings. 
We  naturally  look  for  something  characteristic  in 


78  BEGINNING  OF  II.IS  MINISTKY  IN  JVDJEA. 

the  first  public  words  and  acts  of  One  to  whose 
advent  all  previous  generations  looked  forward,  as 
all  subsequent  generations  have  looked  back  on  it, 
with  such  unexampled  depth  of  feeling.    • 

We  have  seen  that  our  Lord  deemed  Jerusalem 
the  right  place  for  the  commencement  of  His 
ministry.  It  was  the  City  of  the  Great  King.  It 
was  the  seat  of  that  Temple  in  regard  to  which 
the  last  of  the  prophets  had  said,  "  The  Lord,  whom 
ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple."  There 
it  was  certain  that  His  public  career  would  end,  and 
there  it  was  suitable  that  it  should  also  begin.  But 
He  did  not  at  once,  after  His  inauguration  at  His 
baptism,  turn  His  face  to  Jerusalem.  He  waited 
till  the  greatest  of  the  annual  feasts  should  give 
Him  a  natural  opportunity  of  going  thither.  After 
His  temptation  in  the  wilderness.  He  returned  to 
the  scene  of  John's  baptism.  There,  at  Bethabara, 
beyond  Jordan,  and  therefore  outside  the  more 
immediately  classic  land  of  Israel,  His  first  group 
of  followers  were  drawn  to  Him.  Next  He  pro- 
ceeded to  Cana,  to  a  marriage  feast  to  which  He 
had  been  invited.  A  few  days  were  then  spent  at 
Capernaum.  Then  came  the  passover  at  Jerusalem, 
and  there  took  place  the  first  public  appeal  of  Jesus 
to  the  nation.  This  was  really  the  commencement 
of  His  public  ministry.  The  events  at  Bethabara 
and  Cana  were  significant;  but  they  were  done 
somewhat  privately.  It  was  at  the  passover  that 
Jesus  first  challenged  public  attention;  and  no 
one  who  bears  in  mind  the  significance  of  the 
passover  can  doubt  that,  of  all  times  and  seasons 
for  His  manifestation,  this  was  the  most  becoming. 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUD^A.  79 

We  propose  in  this  chapter,  after  glancing  at  the 
two  events  that  happened  at  Bethabara  and  Cana 
respectively,  to  study  the  beginning  of  His  ministry 
in  Judaea. 

At  Bethabara  five  disciples  were  drawn  to  Jesus, 
— Andrew  and  John,  Peter,  Philip,  and  Nathanael.^ 
They  were  not  made  apostles  at  this  stage,  but  they 
became  personal  believers  and  followers.  All  ap- 
pear previously  to  have  been  disciples  of  John 
the  Baptist.  On  the  day  when  Jesus  returned  to 
John  after  His  temptation,  the  Baptist  pointed  Him 
out  as  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world,  and  gave  his  reasons  for  believing  Him 
to  be  the  Son  of  God.  Next  day,  as  Jesus  passed,  he 
exclaimed,  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God!"  To  two  of 
His  disciples  these  words  were  like  an  electric 
spark.  They  followed  Jesus,  went  with  Him  to  His 
lodging,  and  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  in  His  com- 
pany. We  are  told  that  one  of  the  two  was  Andrew ; 
we  infer  that  the  other  was  John.  It  is  evident 
from  what  followed  that  decisive  work  was  done 
that  day.  Andrew  and  John  were  filled  with  a 
holy  enthusiasm.  Of  the  conversation  that  passed 
between  them  and  Jesus  we  have  no  record.  But 
whatever  it  was,  they  became  convinced  that  Jesus 
was  the  Son  of  God,  and  they  hastened  to  share  the 
discovery  with  their  companions.  They  had  heard 
the  Baptist  proclaim  this  fact,  and  on  this  ground 
they  were  disposed  to  believe  it.  But  their  inter- 
course with  Jesus  evidently  turned  this  disposition 
into  a  fixed  and  firm  belief  "We  beheld  his 
glory,"  the  apostle  says  (though  not  with  an  exclu- 

^  Possibly  also  James.     See  Godet,  in  loco. 


80  BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUDAEA. 

sive  reference  to  this  occasion),  ''the  glory  as  of 
the  only  begotten  of  the  Father."  It  was  not  by 
any  miraculous  exercise  of  power  they  were  con- 
vinced, for  "  the  beginning  of  miracles "  took  place 
two  days  afterwards  at  Cana.  What  led  them 
to  believe  must  have  been  some  outbeaming  from 
Christ  of  the  light  and  love  of  heaven,  something 
that  showed  His  power  to  satisfy  all  the  longings 
of  their  hearts,  and  bring  them  into  happy  fellow- 
ship with  the  Father.  It  is  very  likely  that  on 
this  occasion  Jesus  imparted  to  them  some  of  the 
truths  which  He  soon  after  made  known  to  Nico- 
demus  and  to  the  woman  of  Samaria.  He  Him- 
self gives  us  a  hint  of  the  line  of  His  communication 
when  He  says  to  Nathanael,  "  Hereafter  ye  shall 
see  the  heaven  open,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascend- 
ing and  descending  on  the  Son  of  man."  As  if 
He  had  said,  I  have  come  to  establish  a  friendly 
relation  between  earth  and  heaven ;  I  have  come  to 
heal  the  breach  between  man  and  God ;  ere  long 
you  shall  see  visible  tokens  of  this  reconciliation ; 
you  shall  see  angels  of  health,  and  life  and  forgive- 
ness descending,  and  angels  of  gladness  and  thanks- 
giving and  holy  delight  ascending  on  the  Son  of 
man. 

Now,  the  full  significance  of  these  things  cannot 
be  seen  unless  we  bear  in  mind  that  they  took  place 
at  the  very  scene  of  the  triumph  of  John  the  Baptist, 
and  that  the  five  disciples  whom  Jesus  now  drew 
after  Him  had  been  discix^les  of  John.  It  is  implied 
in  this  that  there  was  something  in  Jesus  far  beyond 
what  there  was  in  John.  John  himself  had  frankly 
owned  that  it  was  so.     And  he  had  pointed  to  the 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUD^A.  81 

difference  when  he  styled  Jesus  "  the  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  Jesus  was 
to  be  a  reconciler  of  man  and  God.  That  John  had 
never  been  or  professed  to  be.  All  that  could  be 
said  of  him  was,  that  he  had  made  men  feel  the  need 
of  reconciliation;  but  the  blessing  itself,  he  had 
always  said,  must  come  from  another.  Now  Jesus 
accepts  this  view  when  He  tells  Nathanael  that  on 
His  person  there  will  soon  be  a  visible  communica- 
tion between  earth  and  heaven.  Thus  it  appears 
that  on  the  very  first  occasion  when  Jesus  speaks  of 
Himself  to  men,  He  represents  Himself  as  much 
more  than  a  moral  teacher — much  more  than  John 
was,  much  more  than  any  prophet  was ;  nothing  less 
than  a  Mediator  between  God  and  man.  It  seems 
plain  that  it  was  the  apprehension  of  this  truth  that 
filled  Andrew  and  John  with  such  a  feeling  of  satis- 
faction, and  set  them  to  announce  the  discovery 
to  their  companions — to  tell  them  how  they  had 
found  in  Jesus  a  blessing  that  John,  bright  and 
shinino'  li^^ht  thouoh  he  was,  could  never  have  be- 
stowed. 

This  incident  in  the  career  of  Jesus  is  to  be 
regarded,  we  think,  as  much  more  important  and 
characteristic  than  that  which  took  place  two  days 
after  at  Cana  of  Galilee.  There  was  a  marriage 
there,  and  Jesus  and  His  disciples  were  among  the 
guests.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  marriage  had  been 
that  of  one  of  His  own  followers — (could  it  have 
been  Peter,  or  any  other  of  the  five  ?) — because  it  is 
difficult  otherwise  to  account  for  the  invitation  of 
"  Jesus  aTid  his  disciples''  It  was  certainly  a  strik- 
ing transition  so  soon  after  His  long  fast — after  He 


82  BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTEY  IN  JUD^A. 

had  been  in  tlie  wilderness  and  had  experienced  the 
extremity  of  hunger — that  He  should  be  a  guest  at 
a  wedding  festival.  His  presence  on  the  occasion 
may  well  be  taken  as  a  proof  that  so  far  from  frown- 
ing, He  smiled  on  marriage,  and  on  the  family 
constitution  and  relations  generally,  and  also  as 
showing  that  though  there  might  be  suitable  occa- 
sions for  fasting,  He  held  that  there  were  also 
occasions  when  feasting  was  legitimate  even  for  His 
disciples.  If  there  was  a  time  to  mourn,  there  was 
also  a  time  to  rejoice.  This  was  to  be  the  law  of 
His  kingdom.  What  He  said  to  His  mother  was 
an  indication  that  now  He  had  come  into  a  dif- 
ferent relation  to  her  from  that  which  had  prevailed 
at  Nazareth — that  now  He  was  bound  by  ncAv" 
obligations  that  must  be  regarded  as  more  sacred 
than  even  her  will.  The  form  of  the  miracle,  too, 
the  converting  of  water  into  wine,  was  fitted  to 
symbolise  the  power  of  Jesus  to  sweeten  the  homely 
comforts  of  life — to  make  "  the  little  that  a  righteous 
man  hath  better  than  the  riches  of  many  wicked." 
All  this  is  true,  and  yet  it  fails  to  give  any  peculiar 
significance  to  this  occurrence,  as  the  first  mii^acle 
that  Jesus  ever  performed.  For  in  truth,  the  most 
of  Christ's  miracles,  unlike  this  one,  were  miracles 
of  redemption, — miracles  in  which  some  great  dis- 
order was  removed ;  they  were  symbolic  of  the  great 
work  of  Christ,  in  redeeming  men  from  sin  and 
suffering  and  death.  The  miracle  of  Cana  was  not 
one  of  this  class,  and  cannot  therefore  be  ranked 
among  His  most  glorious  and  significant  works.  It 
has  really  no  distinction  except  that  it  was  first  in 
order.     We  are  like  the  traveller  here,  arriving  at 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JVDMIl  83 

the  source  of  a  great  stream,  but  not  finding  any- 
thing unusually  notable  at  the  spot. 

Why,  then,  is  it  recorded  ?  Mainly,  we  believe, 
that  its  effect  on  the  disciples  may  be  pointed  out. 
"  This  beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  at  Cana  of 
Galilee,  and  manifested  forth  his  glory;  and  his 
disciples  believed  on  him."  But  did  they  not  believe 
before  ?  Certainly ;  they  believed  in  virtue  of 
what  they  saw  and  heard  at  Bethabara.  But  their 
faith  was  not  so  stable  as  not  to  admit  of  beinjr 
corroborated.  The  effect  of  the  miracle  was  to 
increase  their  faith.  And  thus  it  was  made  to 
appear  how  the  internal  and  external  evidences  for 
.Christ  work  to  one  another.  The  right  order  of 
things  is  this :  the  internal  evidence  does  the  work; 
the  external  confirms  the  impression  of  the  internal. 
First,  Christ  commends  Himself  to  the  soul  by  His 
outbeaming  grace  and  glory ;  then  miracles  follow, 
to  convince  the  soul  that  in  its  estimate  of  Him  it 
has  made  no  error,  that  it  has  rightly  concluded 
Him  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  In  the  case  of  the 
disciples  the  right  order  was  followed, — first,  their 
souls  apprehended  His  heavenly  glory;  then  their 
eyes  beheld  His  mighty  works.  But  there  were 
many  of  Christ's  countrymen  who  could  not  be  im- 
pressed with  the  first  mode  of  proof.  In  their  case 
the  miracles  took  away  all  excuse  for  unbelief,  and 
perhaps  awakened  a  spirit  of  inquiry,  which  in  some 
cases  led  to  better  results.  With  the  disciples  and 
likeminded  persons  the  order  was  different:  the 
miracle  confirmed  and  sealed  the  faith  which  sprang 
first  from  the  contemplation  of  His  spiritual  glor}^ 
And  this,  we  may  say,  indicates  a  great  peculiarity 


84  BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUDiEA. 

of  the  fourth  Gospel ;  in  it  miracles  hold  a  subor- 
diaate  place ;  its  great  theme  is  the  spiritual  glory 
of  the  Son  of  God.  The  fourth  Gospel  is  not  pro- 
perly a  biography ;  its  design  is  to  show  how  faith 
in  Jesus  was  produced  in  some,  while  unbelief  con- 
tinued in  the  minds  of  others  ;  and  in  particular 
to  show  the  action  of  the  two  kinds  of  proof,  external 
and  internal,  on  men — the  signs  and  miracles  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  inward  manifestations  of  Divine 
life  and  power  by  Jesus  on  the  other. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  public  commencement 
of  the  Judsean  ministry, — Christ's  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem at  the  feast  of  the  Passover.  The  first 
incident  at  Jerusalem  is  a  somewhat  unexpected 
and  surprising  one — His  forcible  cleansing  of  the 
temple.  It  has  to  be  specially  marked,  for  it  is  emi- 
nently significant,  that  the  first  public  act  of  Jesus, 
entering  the  sacred  city  in  His  character  as  Messiah, 
was  to  make  a  whip  of  small  cords  and  drive  the 
traders  from  the  temple.  It  seems  at  the  first 
blush  inconsistent  with  the  meek  and  gentle  spirit 
which  was  so  remarkable  in  Him ;  just  as  the 
turning  of  the  water  into  wine  seems  at  first 
inconsistent  with  the  Christian  spirit  of  self-denial 
and  victory  over  all  carnal  delights. 

Let  us  look  carefully,  then,  at  the  circumstances 
of  the  case.  It  is  remarkable  that  Jesus  met  with 
no  opposition  to  His  task,  though  He  was  but  one 
against  scores ;  a  panic  seems  to  have  fallen  on  the 
traders.  He  came  upon  them  like  that  warrior 
of  whom  Isaiah  asks,  "  Who  is  this  that  cometh 
from  Edom,  with  dyed  garments  from  Bozrali? 
this  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel,  travelling  in  the 


BEGIN  XING  OF  HIS  MINISTliY  IN  JUD^A.  85 

greatness  of  his  strength  ?"  He  came  in  propria 
persond  as  the  Lord  of  the  Temple,  and  there  was 
that  in  the  pose  of  His  figure,  in  the  flash  of  His 
eye,  in  the  majesty  of  His  march,  and  the  imperial 
tones  of  His  voice  that  showed  Him  to  be  what  He 
claimed.  In  regard  to  the  physical  violence  which 
He  employed,  it  was  by  no  means  inconsistent  with 
the  character  of  one  whose  great  weapons  were 
gentleness  and  love.  There  are  occasions  when 
physical  violence  is  the  irresistible  outcome  of  the 
holiest  and  purest  spiritual  feelings, — the  outcome 
even  of  the  warmest  love.  In  the  first  of  Chryso- 
stom's  celebrated  Homilies  of  the  Statues,  when  the 
whole  community  of  Antioch  was  petrified  by  dread 
of  the  Emperor's  wrath,  and  when  any  fresh  sin, 
provoking  the  wrath  of  God,  seemed  to  the  great 
preacher  like  the  loosening  of  an  avalanche  over 
the  city,  he  said :  "  I  desire  to  ask  one  favour 
of  you  all,  in  return  for  this  my  address,  which  is 
that  you  will  correct,  on  my  behalf,  the  blasphemers 
of  this  city.  And  should  you  hear  any  one  in 
the  public  thoroughfare,  or  in  the  midst  of  the 
forum,  blaspheming  God,  reproach,  rebuke  him;  and 
should  it  be  necessary  to  inflict  blows,  spare  not  to 
do  so.  Smite  him  on  the  face  ;  strike  his  mouth ; 
sanctify  thy  hand  with  the  blow  ;  and  if  any  should 
accuse  thee,  and  drag  thee  to  the  place  of  justice, 
follow  them  thither;  and  when  the  judge  on  the 
bench  calls  thee  to  account,  say  boldly  that  the  man 
blasphemed  the  King  of  Angels.  .  .  .  Let  the  Jews 
and  Greeks  learn  that  the  Christians  are  the  saviours 
of  the  city,  that  they  are  its  guardians,  its  patrons, 
and  its  teachers."  .  .  . 


86  BEGINl^'lNG  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUD^EA. 

John  Foster  tells  an  anecdote  of  the  devoted 
Grimshawe,  who  more  than  a  century  ago  was 
incumbent  of  Haworth,  in  Yorkshire — a  wild 
sequestered  place,  famous  in  our  time  as  the  home 
of  the  Bronte  sisters : — that  having  been  told 
one  winter  night  that  a  number  of  blackguards 
were  disturbing  a  religious  meeting,  held  in  a  room 
at  the  end  of  a  passage,  in  order  to  stop  the  dis- 
turbance, as  there  were  no  police,  he  took  the 
matter  into  his  own  hands.  Disguising  himself  in 
a  coarse  coat,  he  went  among  the  ruffians,  as  if  he 
belonged  to  the  gang,  till  the  door  of  the  place 
being  thrown  open,  he  suddenly,  by  a  desperate 
effort,  forced  them  all  into  the  meeting-room,  and 
after  locking  the  door,  pulled  from  his  pocket  a 
horse-whip,  with  which  he  laid  on  them  till  his 
arm  was  tired ;  then  falling  on  his  knees,  he  prayed 
for  them  with  such  an  awful  empLasis  on  the 
words  hell  and  damnation,  that  the  wretches  were 
appalled,  and  the  meetings  were  never  disturbed 
again.^ 

To  understand  the  significance  of  our  Lord's  act, 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that  even  then,  He  was  no 
stranger  in  the  temple.  We  know  not  if  any  tradi- 
tion lingered  of  the  presentation  of  the  infant  child 
of  Mary — if  there  were  still  any  living  echoes  of 
the  nunc  dimittis  of  Simeon,  or  the  thanksgiving  of 
Anna.  But  the  visit  of  the  child  from  Nazareth 
could  not  have  been  forgotten  among  the  doctors, 
more  especially  as  that  child  probably  returned 
from  year  to  year,  and  could  hardly  fail  to  be  an 
object  of  interest  and  curiosity  among  them. 
^  Contributions  to  the  Eclectic  Review,  i.  505. 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUD^A.  87 

But  a  mucli  more  certain  and  important  fact  has 
to  be  pondered.  It  was  but  a  few  weeks  since  a 
deputation  of  priests  and  Levites  had  been  sent 
from  Jerusalem  to  John  the  Baptist,  to  ask  him 
who  he  was  (John  i.  1 9).  That  deputation  was  at 
Bethabara  when  Jesus  returned  from  the  tempta- 
tion. They  heard  John  declare  that  he  was  not 
the  Messiah,  but  that  there  stood  one  among  them 
whom  they  knew  not,  whose  shoe's  latchet  he  was 
not  worthy  to  unloose.  They  heard  John  speak  of 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  Jesus,  and  as 
Jesus  passed  by,  they  heard  him  say,  "  Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God!"  Observe,  then,  that  when  Jesus 
came  to  Jerusalem,  and  entered  the  temple  as  its 
Lord,  the  priests  and  Levites  knew  full  well  what 
John  had  testified  respecting  Him.  Thus  they  had 
a  double  reason  for  receiving  Him  as  their  Lord. 
They  had  the  testimony  of  John,  strong  and  solemn ; 
and  they  had  the  majestic  bearing  of  Jesus  Him- 
self, and  the  striking  witness  to  Him  in  the  crouch- 
ing attitude  and  unresisting  flight  of  the  sacrilegious 
wretches  who  had  brought  their  traffic  into  the 
sacred  court.  But  the  authorities  of  the  temple 
did  not  yield.  They  would  not  own  Him  as  their 
Lord.  They  demanded,  "  What  sign  showest  thou 
unto  us,  seeing  that  thou  doest  these  things  ? " 
Rejecting  the  higher  evidence,  they  demanded  the 
lower.  Eejecting  the  spiritual  and  inward,  they 
asked  for  the  external.  Jesus  gave  them  an  answer 
which  was  at  once  an  enigma  and  a  sublime  asser- 
tion of  supernatural  power,  "Destroy  this  temple, 
and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up  again."  But  in 
vain.     He  was  not  the  kind  of  Lord  they  wanted. 


88  BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUD^A. 

They  would  have  nothing  of  Him,  "  He  came  unto 
his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not." 

Two  great  facts  were  thus  impressed  on  the  mind 
of  Jesus  :  first,  that  He  was  rejected  by  the  spiritual 
authorities  of  Jerusalem ;  and  second,  that  the  moral 
evidence  of  His  heavenly  mission  went  for  little — 
signs  and  wonders  were  what  men  clamoured  for. 
His  rejection  by  the  authorities  was  a  significant  and 
painful  fact.  At  the  very  beginning  the  door  was 
slammed  in  His  face.  His  ministry  in  Jerusalem 
could  never  be  a  general  success.  But  though 
rejected  by  the  authorities,  there  was  a  remnant,  an 
election  according  to  grace,  to  whom  His  ministry 
would  prove  a  blessing.  There  were  units  here  and 
there  that  might  be  saved.  Our  Lord,  therefore, 
did  not  rush  from  Jerusalem,  but  laboured  on, 
patiently  and  diligently,  if  by  any  means  He  might 
save  some. 

And  as  it  appeared  that  the  people  could  not 
appreciate  the  higher  and  more  spiritual  evidence 
of  His  claims.  He  gave  them  "  signs  and  wonders." 
We  read  (John  ii.  23-25),  "  when  Jesus  was  in  Jeru- 
salem at  the  passover,  in  the  feast  day,  many  be- 
lieved in  his  name,  when  they  saw  the  miracles 
which  he  did.  But  Jesus  did  not  commit  himself 
unto  them,  because  he  knew  all  men,  and  needed  not 
that  any  should  testify  of  man:  for  he  knew  what 
was  in  man."  We  gather  from  this,  that  their  faith 
was  not  of  a  very  trustworthy  character.  The  faith 
that  rested  on  signs  and  wonders  was  not  of  the 
same  quality  as  the  faith  of  those  who,  with  true 
spiritual  insight,  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of 
the  only  begotten  of  the  Father.     Tlie  one  faith  was 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUDi^A.  89 

no  more  than  a  step  towards  the  other.  The  true 
faith  was  that  which  sprang  from  conviction  of  sin, 
such  as  John  the  Baptist  had  produced, — from  an 
inward  sense  of  need,  and  an  inward  apprehension 
of  the  power  of  Jesus  to  meet  their  case  and  bring 
them  to  God.  Jesus  did  not  despise  the  lower 
faith,  though  He  deemed  it  in  itself  unsatisfactory. 
Wherever  it  existed  there  was  some  hope  of  build- 
ing on  it  a  higher  and  more  spiritual  faith.  A  noble 
opportunity  to  do  so  occurred  immediately  in  the 
case  of  Nicodemus.  In  dealing  with  Nicodemus,  as 
we  shall  see  presently,  He  illustrated  in  various 
ways  the  difference  between  what  we  may  call  a 
mechanical  and  a  spiritual  faith.  The  lesson  for 
His  servants  in  the  ministry  is  obvious.  Call  it 
what  we  may,  we  can  commit  ourselves  to  the  faith 
of  no  man  whose  soul  has  not  been  drawn  to  Christ 
by  the  discovery  of  His  spiritual  glory,  and  the 
apprehension  in  Him  of  all  the  stores  of  blessing 
which,  as  a  sinner,  he  requires. 

The  precise  idea  that  Nicodemus  had  of  Christ, 
and  that  many  more  in  Jerusalem  had  of  Him,  may 
be  gathered  from  his  words,  "  Eabbi,  we  know  that 
thou  art  a  teacher  sent  from  God ;  for  no  man  can 
do  those  miracles  that  thou  doest  except  God  be 
with  him."  There  is  no  evidence  here  of  more  than 
what  we  have  called  a  mechanical  faith.  There  is 
no  proof  that  the  truth  had  been  apprehended  by 
Nicodemus  spiritually,  or  that  he  had  a  due  con- 
ception of  the  exalted  function  which  Christ  had 
come  to  fulfil.  He  was  simply  convinced  that  such 
supernatural  power  as  He  had  shown  indicated  a 
Divine  mission,  and  being  restless  and  unsatisfied 


90  BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUD^A. 

in  regard  to  liis  state  before  God,  he  came  to  see  if 
He  could  throw  light  on  his  perplexities,  and  guide 
his  feet  into  the  way  of  peace.  It  is  evident  that 
as  soon  as  the  case  was  before  Him,  our  Lord  judged 
it  a  suitable  one  for  more  searching  and  spiritual 
work ; — a  case  for  exciting  spiritual  desires,  and  re- 
vealing His  power  to  satisfy  them,  so  that  faith  of  the 
highest  order  should  be  the  result.  At  once,  there- 
fore, and  with  an  apparent  abruptness  that  amounted 
to  bluntness,  our  Lord  struck  a  spiritual  note. 
"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be 
born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
The  objections  of  Nicodemus  to  this  doctrine  led 
only  to  its  being  more  fully  and  emphatically 
affirmed.  And  in  fact,  as  our  Lord  goes  on.  He 
lays  down  the  most  ^tal  positions  of  Christian 
theology,  while  at  the  same  time  He  gives  promi- 
nence to  His  own  personality,  as  the  author  of  that 
salvation  which  all  men  require. 

What  has  been  called  the  three  Es — man's  ruin 
by  sin,  his  redemption  by  Christ,  and  his  regenera- 
tion by  the  Spirit,  are  set  forth  very  clearly  in  this 
conversation  with  Mcodemus.  The  three  persons 
in  the  Trinity,  God,  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit,  are 
severally  brought  forward.  It  is  indicated  that  the 
redemption  of  man  is  to  be  achieved  through  the 
Son  of  man  being  "lifted  up,  as  Moses  lifted  up 
the  serpent  in  the  wilderness ;"  but  nothing  specific 
is  stated  as  to  what  is  meant  by  this  "  lifting  up," 
because  men  are  not  yet  prepared  to  receive  the 
doctrine  of  Christ's  death  and  crucifixion.  In  the 
course  of  His  conversation,  our  Lord  refers  repeatedly 
to  the  strange  and  impopular  aspect  which  His 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTllV  iN  JUD.EA.  91 

teaching  presented.  "Art  thou  a  master  of  Israel, 
and  knowest  not  these  things  ?  ...  If  I  have  told 
you  earthly  things,  and  ye  believe  not,  how  shall  ye 
believe  if  I  tell  you  heavenly  things  ?"  "And  this 
is  the  condemnation,  that  light  is  come  into  the 
world,  and  men  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  he- 
cause  their  deeds  were  evil"  He  speaks  as  one  who 
has  been  rejected,  and  who  understands  the  reason 
why.  It  is  not  because  He  has  furnished  too  little 
evidence  of  His  claims,  but  because  "he  that  doeth 
evil  hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to  the  light, 
lest  his  deeds  should  be  reproved."  The  disorder 
under  which  men  are  labouring  hinders  them  from 
recognising  and  welcoming  their  deliverer.  Jesus 
can  now  look  for  nothing  but  rejection  by  the 
mass;  and  this  adds  infinitely  to  the  difficulty 
of  His  work. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Nicodemus 
became  a  true  disciple,  and  that  he  came  to  be 
ranked  among  those  who  beheld  in  Christ  the 
glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father.  Thus, 
though  the  rulers  as  a  body  rejected  Christ,  one  of 
them  believed.  We  seem  to  find  here  an  explanation 
of  that  enigmatical  prophecy  in  Isaiah,  where  the 
servant  of  the  Lord  says,  "  I  have  laboured  in  vain ; 
I  have  spent  my  strength  for  nought  and  in  vain ;  yet 
surely  my  judgment  is  with  the  Lord,  and  my  work 
with  my  God."  With  the  rulers  of  the  nation  he  had 
laboured  in  vain,  and  his  labour  was  in  vain  to  the 
very  end  of  the  day;  but  in  individual  cases  there  were 
tokens  that  the  Lord  his  God  was  with  him,  and 
that  none  of  his  words  were  falling  to  the  ground. 
How  often  is  this  true  of  the  faithful  minister !     On 


92  BEGiNIflNG  OF  HIS  MINlSTKY  IN  JUD.EA. 

the  mass  he  seems  to  make  no  impression ;  but  here 
and  there  a  soul  is  given  him,  to  cheer  his  heart 
and  send  him  on  his  way  rejoicing. 

We  have  no  data  for  determining  the  length  of 
time  spent  by  our  Lord  at  Jerusalem,  but  we  know 
that  when  He  left  the  city  He  did  not  leave  the 
district.  "  He  came  into  the  land  of  Judaea,  and 
there  he  tarried  with  his  disciples,  and  baptized" 
(John  iii.  22).  It  is  quite  possible  that  this  visit 
embraced  some  of  the  more  noted  places  in  that 
neighbourhood,  so  celebrated  in  Old  Testament 
story.  At  one  time  He  was  evidently  not  far  off  from 
John.  "John  was  also  baptizing  in  OEnon,  near 
Salim,  because  there  was  much  water  there;  and 
they  came  and  were  baptized."  The  only  place, 
says  Captain  Conder,  where  an  (Enon  occurs  near 
to  a  Salim,  and  where  there  are  copious  springs  of 
water,  is  in  a  valley  at  or  near  the  boundary  be- 
tween Judrea  and  Samaria.  The  fact  of  their  being: 
so  near  led  to  two  results.  On  John's  being  in- 
formed that  Jesus  was  baptizing  more  disciples 
than  he,  he  was  led  to  give  a  very  beautiful  and 
instructive  testimony  to  Jesus.  The  Pharisees, 
moreover,  were  informed  that  Jesus  was  becominGj 
more  popular  than  John ;  and  as  John  was  shortly 
after  cast  into  prison  by  Herod,  and  it  was  evident 
that  the  Pharisees,  being  rid  of  John,  would  try 
next  to  get  rid  of  Jesus,  our  Lord  left  Judaea,  and 
directed  His  steps  to  Galilee  as  the  future  scene  of 
His  ministry. 

The  testimony  of  John  to  Jesus  was  a  very  re- 
markable one.  It  was  quite  apparent  that  Jesus 
was  now  more  popular  than  John.     John  accepted 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUD^I^A.  93 

this  fact  with  remarkable  calmness,   and   showed 
that  where  there  was  such  an   infinite   difference 
between  the  two  men,  it  was  only  what  might  be 
expected  that  the  one  should  increase  and  the  other 
decrease.     But  John,  penetrating  below  the  surface, 
perceived  that  though  Jesus  was  successful  in  one 
sense.  He  had  not  succeeded  in  a  sense  more  profound. 
No  doubt  the  people  were  impressed  by  His  miracles, 
and  what  we  have  called  a  mechanical  faith  prevailed 
very  generally.     But  the  inner  or   spiritual  faith, 
the  evidence  of  the  only  true  impression,  was  but 
rare.     Contrasting  himself  with  Jesus,  John  spoke 
of    himself  as   one   who    had    got  from   God   all 
that  he  had  testified.     But  Jesus  had  come  from 
heaven.  He  was  "  from  above,  above  all,"  and  had 
testified  that  which  He  had  seen  as  well  as  heard 
(iii.  32).      Nevertheless,  John  adds,  "no  man  re- 
ceiveth  his  testimony."     Apparently  popular.  He  is 
really  rejected.     While  many  believe  in  His  signs 
and  wonders,  few  apprehend  His  spiritual  doctrine. 
The  faith  shown  by  the  multitude  was  not  necessarily 
a  saving  faith.     John  saw  very  clearly  the  whole 
bearings  of  the  case.     He  apprehended  the  infinite 
difference  between  the  change  on  the  five  or  six  dis- 
ciples who  had  left  him  at  Bethabara,  and  probably 
Nicodemus  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  multitude  that 
accepted  baptism  at  the  hand  of  Christ's  disciples, 
on  the  other.     He  saw  that  the  kind  of  popularity 
which  Jesus  was  enjoying  was  no  test  of  a  satisfac- 
tory  and   abiding   impression.      Perhaps  he  could 
foresee  that  the  amazement  of  the  multitude  now 
would  not  hinder  them  from  crying  out  on  a  future 
occasion,  "  Away  with  him  !  crucify   him  !  "     But 


94    BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  JUD^A. 

all  the  more  because  Jesus  had  been  rejected  by 
the  rulers,  did  this  noble  witness-bearer  renew  his 
testimony  to  Him.  Nay,  he  rises  to  a  higher  emi- 
nence than  ever,  and  speaks  of  Jesus  with  a  solem- 
nity which  could  not  be  surpassed ;  for  the  interests 
depending  on  men's  reception  of  Him  are  interests 
of  overwhelming  magnitude :  "  He  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life ;  and  he  that  be- 
lieveth not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath 
of  God  abideth  on  him." 

It  is  a  very  solemn  view  that  this  chapter  of  our 
Lord's  ministry  gives  us  of  the  difference  between  a 
superficial  and  a  spiritual  faith.  It  shows  us  how 
little  comparatively  is  gained  when  men  are  at- 
tached to  Christ  merely  by  the  outer  attributes  of 
their  nature.  It  is  the  profound  apprehension  of 
His  saving  qualities,  the  sense  of  the  guilt  and 
pollution  of  sin  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  power  of 
Christ  to  redeem  us  on  the  other,  and  the  clinging 
of  the  soul  to  Him,  as  with  a  death-grip,  for  these 
unspeakable  blessings,  that  constitute  true  disciple- 
ship.  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast 
the  words  of  eternal  life." 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

It  must  have  been  with  solemn  and  painful  feel- 
ings that  our  Lord  turned  His  back  on  Jerusalem 
and  Judaea,  and  sought  for  a  more  congenial  sphere 
of  labour  in  the  rougher  regions  of  Galilee.  His 
first  attempt  to  gather  the  children  of  Jerusalem 
together,  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  had  been  repulsed.  He  had  been  rejected 
by  the  rulers  in  spite  alike  of  the  inward  manifesta- 
tions of  Divine  authority  supplied  by  His  life,  His 
spirit,  and  His  lessons,  and  the  external  credentials 
which  His  miracles  afforded.  Jerusalem,  for  a  thou- 
sand years  the  city  of  the  Great  King,  had  virtually 
declared  Him  an  impostor.  Such  a  rebuff  at  the 
very  outset  of  His  ministry  must  have  been  most 
chilling;  yet  neither  at  this  time,  nor  afterwards, 
did  His  habitual  serenity  and  cheerfulness  forsake 
Him.  Though  He  did  not  bid  a  final  fareweU  to 
the  great  centre  of  religious  influence,  His  visits 
to  it  in  after  days  could  be  only  during  the  brief 
seasons  of  the  feasts,  and  even  then  at  great  personal 
hazard,  and  with  the  profound  conviction  that  one 
day,  like  so  many  of  the  prophets  before  Him,  He 
would  be  put  to  death  in  Jerusalem. 

95 


96  BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

But  on  His  way  to  Galilee,  it  was  our  Lord's  lot 
to  meet  with  a  wonderfully  refreshing  incident. 
His  route  lay  through  Samaria,  no  longer  peopled  by 
the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  but  by  the  despised  descen- 
dants of  that  mongrel  race  whom  the  king  of 
Assyria  had  brought  from  the  provinces  of  the 
East  to  occupy  the  homes  and  lands  of  the  dis- 
possessed sons  of  Joseph.  There  were  in  fact  two 
great  encouragements  provided  for  Him  in  this  un- 
promising field.  First,  there  was  the  change  pro- 
duced on  the  woman  whom  He  met  at  the  well, 
the  narrative  of  which  is  one  of  the  brightest  gems 
of  gospel  history.  The  place  of  meeting,  Jacob's 
well,  was  striking,  recalling  one  of  the  great  fathers 
of  the  Hebrew  race,  and  the  dawn  of  a  history 
of  which  much  of  the  past  had  been  so  brilliant, 
though  Ichabod  was  now  visible  on  all  sides. 
There  was  the  condition  of  Jesus  Himself,  so 
thoroughly  exhausted  in  body  as  to  be  unable  to 
accompany  His  disciples  into  the  neighbouring 
city,  yet  ready  to  wake  up  with  youthful  anima- 
tion at  the  joy  of  bringing  a  lost  sheep  to  the 
fold.  There  was  the  repulsive  history  of  the  woman 
— all  her  life  a  wanderer  from  the  ways  of  God, 
and  now  so  low  and  so  lost  that  to  man  her  recovery 
seemed  impossible ;  yet  not  too  deep  in  the  pit  to 
be  won  back  by  that  Divine  grace  and  love  which 
can  prevail  when  all  other  reclaiming  forces  have 
lost  their  virtue.  There  was  the  graciousness  of 
Christ,  breaking  through  all  the  barriers  of  prejudice, 
and  revealing  such  a  tender  interest  in  the  woman's 
soul ;  and  there  was  His  beautiful  revelation  to  her 
of  Divine  things,  of  free  grace,  and  abundant  bless- 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE.  97 

ing,  and  His  very  skilful  way  of  dealing  with  her,^- 
of  preventing  her  from  running  off  into  any  side- 
path  of  discussion, — and  of  guiding  her,  poor  sinner 
as  she  was,  to  the  fountain  of  living  waters.  The 
pains  that  the  great  Teacher  took  with  this  single 
hearer ;  the  magnificence  of  the  truths  wliich  He 
taught  to  her  all  alone ;  the  way  in  which,  while 
He  was  dealing  with  her,  the  willing  spirit  over- 
came all  the  weakness  and  weariness  of  His  flesh ; 
and  finally,  the  interest  in  the  welfare  of  her  towns- 
people that  was  kindled  in  her  breast,  turning  her 
into  a  missionary,  into  one  who  carried  the  good 
news  of  the  kingdom  to  the  men  of  the  city, — such 
things  as  these  are  like  a  burst  of  sunshine  in  a 
gloomy  day,  and  they  combine  to  make  the  incident 
at  Jacob's  well  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
beautiful  in  the  whole  ministry  of  our  Lord. 

The  other  encouragement  which  our  Lord  had  in 
connection  with  this  incident  was  the  effect  ^^ro- 
duced  on  the  men  of  the  city.  Evidently  they 
underwent  a  great  spiritual  change.  Many  be- 
lieved because  of  the  saying  of  the  woman,  and 
having  prevailed  on  Him  to  spend  two  days  among 
them,  many  more  believed  because  of  His  own 
word.  It  is  remarkable  that  we  read  nothing  in 
this  case  of  signs  and  wonders.  It  was  the  higher 
evidence  that  impressed  these  people.  They  re- 
cognised the  divinity  of  what  Jesus  taught.  And 
when  they  declared  their  faith  in  Jesus  as  the 
Christ,  it  was  not  as  a  temporal  prince  they 
honoured  Him,  but  as  "  the  Saviour  of  the  world  " 
(ver.  42).  If  it  be  asked,  what  had  Christ  taught  them 
that  led  to  this   acknowledgment?   our  answer  is, 

G 


98  BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

that  in  all  probability  it  was  tlie  substance  of  what 
He  had  taught  Mcodemus, — that  "God  so  loved 
the  world  "  (the  very  expression  used  by  the  Samari- 
tans) "  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
should  have  everlasting  life."  Thus  we  have  an- 
other proof  that  from  the  beginning  our  Lord 
assumed  much  more  than  the  role  of  a  moral 
teacher — that  from  the  first  He  proclaimed  the 
doctrine  of  salvation.  What  a  blessed  encourage- 
ment it  must  have  been  to  Him  to  be  welcomed 
and  honoured  by  these  outcast  Samaritans,  just 
after  He  had  been  rejected  by  the  rulers  of  the 
Jews ! — to  find  congenial  hearts  in  the  highways 
and  the  hedges,  while  those  for  whom  the  feast  was 
prepared  scorned  His  invitation  !  In  all  likelihood 
it  was  this  same  city  of  the  Samaritans  that  was 
so  impressed  and  blessed  afterwards  under  the 
preaching  of  Philip  the  evangelist,  for  both  in  John 
iv.  5  and  Acts  viii.  5  we  find  the  same  expres- 
sion (et9  'ttoXlv  rrj<;  'Za/Jbapela^).  And  probably 
John  had  this  remarkable  case  in  view  when  he 
wrote — "  He  came  unto  his  own,  and  his  own  re- 
ceived him  not.  Bict  as  many  as  received  hiin,  to 
them  "  (though  not  sous  by  Hebrew  descent)  "  gave 
he  power  to  become  children  of  God,  even  to  them 
that  believed  on  his  name  :  which  were  born,  not  of 
blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will 
of  man,  but  of  God." 

It  is  interesting  to  remark,  too,  in  our  Lord's 
future  career,  the  feeling  which  He  had  for  the 
Samaritans  generally.  He  seems  to  have  recognised 
a  certain  kindliness  of  nature  in  them,  when,  in  the 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE.  99 

parable  of  tlie  Good  Samaritan,  He  made  one  of  them 
His  model  philanthropist.  Of  the  ten  lepers  that 
were  healed,  the  only  one  who  returned  to  give 
thanks  was  a  Samaritan — another  proof  of  warm- 
heartedness. When  a  village  of  Samaritans  would 
not  receive  Him,  and  His  disciples  proposed  that  He 
should  call  down  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  them, 
He  deprecated  the  proposal  with  unusual  warmth. 
Their  treatment  in  not  receiving  Him  seems  to  have 
been  an  exception  to  the  ordinary  rule.  Kindness 
on  the  part  of  an  uncouth,  rugged  people  has  a  very 
touching  effect,  as  Paul  felt  at  Melita,  when  "  the 
barbarous  people  showed  no  little  kindness  "  to  him 
and  his  companions.  It  was  strange  that,  from  an 
excommunicated  people  like  the  Samaritans,  our 
Lord  should  have  had  a  better  reception  than  from 
either  Judea  or  Galilee.  "  I  am  found  of  them  that 
sought  me  not ;  I  said.  Behold  me,  behold  me,  unto 
a  people  that  was  not  called  by  my  name." 

Leaving  Samaria,  our  Lord  entered  Galilee.  Out- 
wardly His  reception  was  favourable.  "When  he 
was  come  into  Galilee,  the  Galileans  received  him, 
having  seen  all  the  things  that  he  did  at  Jerusalem 
at  the  feast."  It  appears  from  this  statement  that 
it  was  the  external  rather  than  the  internal  evidence 
that  made  an  impression  on  the  Galileans.  In  this 
respect  they  were  beliind  the  Samaritans,  but  in 
advance  of  the  rulers  at  Jerusalem.  The  Galileans 
were  certainly  not  a  spiritual  race.  It  was  the 
signs  and  wonders  that  impressed  them — not  the 
holy  life  of  Jesus,  or  His  Divine  wisdom  and  grace. 
Still  it  was  something  that  they  admitted  the 
authority   of  the  miracles  wrought  at  the  feast. 


100       BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

Finding  that  mighty  works  were  the  only  way  of 
impressing  them,  Jesus  performed  very  many  such 
during  His  subsequent  ministry  in  Galilee.  Matthew 
says  that  He  went  about  all  Galilee,  healing  all 
sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease  among  the 
people.  The  Gospel  according  to  Mark  is  mainly  a 
record  of  the  mighty  works  done  in  Galilee.  Jesus 
did  not  treat  these  people  otherwise  than  as  they 
were  capable  of  appreciating.  As  yet  they  were 
open  to  little  more  than  external  influences,  and 
these  were  brought  to  bear  on  them  with  unsparing 
hand.  But  even  in  Galilee  our  Lord  took  pains  to 
show  that  a  faith  that  rested  merely  on  mighty 
works,  and  that  recognised  no  higher  ground  than 
these  for  trusting  Christ,  was  not  a  faith  with 
which  He  was  satisfied.  Two  remarkable  occasions 
for  showing  this  presented  themselves :  one  at  Cana, 
and  the  other  at  Nazareth. 

Cana  seems  to  have  been  the  first  place  in  Galilee 
to  which  Jesus  went  when  He  came  from  Judaea,  just 
as  it  had  been  on  His  leaving  Bethabara.  While 
He  was  there,  a  nobleman  or  king's  officer  came  to 
Him  from  Capernaum,  beseeching  Him  to  go  down 
there  and  heal  his  son.  The  reply  to  this  request 
was  striking.  Addressing  the  nobleman,  not  as  an 
individual,  but  as  a  representative  of  the  people  of 
Capernaum,  Jesus  said,  "  Except  ye  (plural,  i.e.  ye 
people  of  Capernaum)  see  signs  and  wonders,  ye  will 
not  believe  "  (John  iv.  48).  During  His  temporary 
residence  there  (John  ii.  12),  Jesus  had  taken  the 
measure  of  the  people  of  Capernaum.  They  were 
not  a  people  easily  impressed.  They  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  what  was  spiritual.     They  saw  no  halo 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE.        101 

of  Divinity  around  His  head.  Nothing  would  impress 
them  but  signs  and  wonders.  Somewhat  tauntingly, 
Jesus  says, "  Except  ye  see  signs  and  wonders  ye  will 
not  believe."  He  speaks  like  one  somewhat  vexed 
that  as  soon  as  He  set  foot  in  Galilee  He  should  be 
asked  to  work  miracles,  rather  than  to  make  those 
revelations  of  the  grace  of  God  which  He  had  been 
asked  for  in  Samaria  and  which  had  been  accom- 
panied by  such  blessed  results.  There  was  implied 
in  it  a  contrast  between  the  spirituality  of  the 
Samaritans  and  the  carnality  of  the  Galileans. 
There  was  no  making  any  impression  on  the  latter 
save  through  mighty  works. 

The  nobleman  patiently  accepted  the  reproach, 
but  quickly  observing  that  the  answer  of  Jesus  was 
not  a  refusal  of  his  request,  he  pressed  it  on  Him 
with  increased  urgency  :  "  Sir,  come  down  ere  my 
child  die."  Like  the  Syrophenician  mother,  who 
took  meekly  the  comparison  that  ranked  her  among 
the  dogs,  but  still  pressed  for  the  blessing,  though 
only  as  a  dog,  so  the  nobleman  tacitly  admitted  that 
it  was  as  Jesus  represented,  but  nevertheless,  0  sir, 
"  come  down  ere  my  child  die."  Jesus  perceived 
that  a  higher  faith  might  spring  from  that  which  he 
had  just  displayed ;  and  while  He  refused  his  request 
in  form.  He  granted  it  in  spirit.  "  Go  thy  w^ay,  thy  son 
liveth,"  was  the  final  answer  to  the  man's  request. 
He  taught  the  man  to  believe  in  His  word  as  well 
as  His  works ;  thus  laying  the  foundation  of  a 
higher  faith,  which  would  find  many  an  opportunity 
for  its  exercise  when  Jesus  should  go  to  reside  at 
Capernaum. 

One  might  suppose  that  such  a  man  as  this  would 


102       BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

have  proved  a  useful  apostle,  had  Jesus  been  pleased 
to  call  him  to  be  such.  But  both  Nicodemus  the 
ruler  at  Jerusalem  and  this  nobleman  of  Capernaum 
were  passed  by,  and  men  of  humbler  rank  were 
chosen.  The  selection  of  the  men  who  formed  the 
college  of  the  twelve  was  not  ruled  by  sheer  necessity ; 
it  was  the  result  of  deliberate  choice.  It  seemed 
good  to  Jesus  then,  as  it  so  often  has  since,  to  select 
His  officers  from  the  less  favoured  orders  of  society ; 
not  that  there  is  any  advantage  of  itself  in  a  humble 
origin,  or  a  rugged  manner,  but  because  those  who 
are  most  unfurnished  with  earthly  advantages  ought 
the  more  to  appreciate  the  value  and  to  long 
for  the  possession  of  those  higher  spiritual  gifts  by 
which  alone  the  true  kingdom  of  Christ  can  be 
advanced  in  this  world. 

The  other  occasion  in  His  early  ministry  in  Gali- 
lee when  our  Lord  showed  emphatically  the  unsatis- 
factory nature  of  a  faith  resting  merely  on  signs 
and  wonders,  was  when  He  visited  Nazareth  and 
preached  in  the  synagogue  there.  The  precise  date 
of  this  visit  is  uncertain,  but  the  early  place  which 
the  narrative  occupies  in  Luke's  Gospel  (iv.  16-30) 
shows  that  it  occurred  early,  and  very  probably 
about  this  very  time. 

It  is  probable  that  our  Lord  had  been  a  full  year 
absent  from  Nazareth.  Since  He  was  last  there, 
there  had  occurred  His  baptism  by  John,  His 
temptation  in  the  wilderness.  His  visit  to  John  at 
Bethabara,  His  visits  to  Cana  and  Capernaum,  the 
entire  time  spent  in  His  Juda^an  ministry,  His 
visit  to  Samaria,  and  to  Cana,  and  to  other  parts  of 
Galilee.     Whether  Nazareth  was  taken  in  ordinary 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE.        103 

course,  or  whether  a  special  visit  was  arranged,  we 
are  not  told.  It  could  not  but  be  a  trying  visit,  for 
few  tasks  are  harder  than  to  give  God's  message  to 
one's  own  relatives  and  intimate  friends,  especially 
when  they  are  in  no  mood  to  receive  it.  No  doubt 
our  Lord  settled  clearly  beforehand  what  line  He 
would  take  at  Nazareth.  Especially  He  must  have 
settled  whether  He  would  endeavour  to  make  an 
impression  by  signs  and  wonders,  or  whether  it 
would  be  by  the  more  spiritual  course — by  setting 
before  them  the  glorious  truths  of  Divine  grace  and 
love,  and  seeking  to  bring  their  souls  into  sympathy 
with  Himself.  It  was  the  latter  of  these  courses 
that  He  resolved  to  take.  The  selection  of  this 
line  was  in  reality  a  compliment  to  Nazareth.  It 
implied  that  it  was  feasible  to  expect  that  an  im- 
pression would  be  made  on  them  by  the  higher  class 
of  evidences,  that  they  would  recognise  the  truth  of 
heaven  when  they  heard  it,  and  welcome  Him  who 
had  come  at  once  to  proclaim  and  apply  it. 

Entering  the  synagogue,  He  stood  up,  no  doubt 
according  to  established  custom,  to  take  part  in  the 
service.  The  book  of  the  prophet  Isaiah  was 
handed  to  him,  and  having  turned  up  the  61st 
chapter,  He  read  the  following  passage  :  "The  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  He  hath  anointed 
me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor ;  He  hath  sent 
me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance 
to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind, 
to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised ;  to  preach 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord." 

Having  finished  the  reading,  and  given  back  the 
book.  He  sat  down ;  and  in  expectation  of  hearing 


104       BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

an  address,  and  probably  in  no  little  curiosity  to 
know  how  He  would  view  the  passage,  "  the  eyes  of 
all  that  were  in  the  synagogue  were  fastened  on 
Him."  His  commentary  was  very  direct  and  ex- 
plicit. Substantially  it  is  contained  in  the  words, 
"  This  day  is  this  scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears." 
It  must  have  been  an  exposition  of  the  gracious 
saving  purposes  for  which  He  had  been  sent  into  the 
world  by  the  Father.  It  must  have  been  substan- 
tially the  same  view  of  truth  that  had  captivated 
Andrew  and  John  and  the  other  disciples  at 
Bethabara,  that  had  more  than  answered  the  ques- 
tions of  Mcodemus,  that  had  subdued  the  woman 
of  Samaria  at  the  well,  and  that  had  drawn  to  Him 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Samaritan  city.  Probably 
He  discoursed  at  some  length  on  the  ladder  now 
set  up  between  heaven  and  earth,  on  which  the 
angels  of  God  were  ascending  and  dtscending;  on 
the  glorious  qualities  of  the  water  of  life;  on  the 
errand  of  salvation  on  which  He  had  come  into 
the  world;  on  the  rest  which  He  offered  to  the 
weary,  water  to  the  thirsty,  healing  to  the  sick,  and 
life  to  the  dead.  His  lips  seem  to  have  dropt  as 
the  honeycomb,  being  steeped  in  the  very  odours 
of  heaven,  and  up  to  a  certain  point  the  audience 
felt  the  power  and  charm  of  His  words.  "  They 
bare  Him  witness,"  it  is  said ;  they  responded  to 
Him ;  they  "  wondered  at  the  gracious  words  that 
proceeded  out  of  His  mouth."  Now  was  the  critical 
moment  in  their  state  of  mind  on  which  the  future 
depended.  They  were  convinced,  their  understand- 
ings were  carried,  nay,  their  feelings  were  touched ; 
but  this  was  not  enough.     It  is  the  will  that  governs 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE.       105 

the  soul.  In  the  case  of  the  Nazarenes  the  will 
was  not  moved.  •  For  all  that  they  had  heard  of 
gracious  words,  for  all  that  they  had  seen  in  Christ 
of  a  heavenly  demeanour,  they  were  not  willing  to 
accept  Him  as  the  Samaritans  had  accepted  Him. 
It  was  their  pride  that  stood  in  the  way.  They 
said,  "  Is  not  this  Joseph's  son  ? "  This  remark 
was  one  that  could  have  been  made  only  for  a 
particular  purpose.  It  was  not  put  as  a  question 
needing  an  answer.  Every  one  must  have  known 
who  He  was,  as  well  as  the  people  of  a  village  know 
any  one  who  has  lived  among  them  for  thirty  years. 
The  precise  purpose  for  which  the  question  was  put 
will  appear  if  we  fill  up  the  obvious  ellipsis  with 
such  words  as  after  all — "  After  all,  is  not  this 
Joseph's  son  ?"  It  will  appear  thus  that  the  words 
were  uttered  as  an  excuse  for  not  surrendering 
themselves  to  Jesus,  and  accepting  Him  as  Messiah. 
Evidently  they  had  felt  a  strong  impulse  in  that 
direction,  but  the  impulse  is  neutralised  by  the  con- 
sideration, "  Is  not  this  Joseph's  son  ?  Why  fling 
ourselves  at  liis  feet  ?  Why  surrender  soul,  body, 
and  spirit  to  Mm "  .^  They  made  the  low  earthly 
connection  of  Jesus  a  screen,  as  it  were,  to  cover  His 
Divine  glory.  The  glory  was  shining  through  Him, 
shining  through  in  His  gi^acious  words — but  they 
would  not  see  it ;  they  stifled  it,  as  it  were,  and 
stifled  their  own  convictions  by  obtruding  the  fact 
that,  after  all,  Jesus  was  but  one  of  themselves — the 
son  of  Joseph  the  carpenter. 

What  followed  is  briefly  and  eUiptically  told ; 
but  the  bearing  of  it  is  not  difiicult  to  see.  The 
spirit  of  unbelief  must  have  something  to  fall  back 


106       BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

on,  by  way  of  apology ;  and,  as  on  other  occasions, 
it  demanded  a  sign.  If  this  Jesus  was  something 
more  than  Joseph's  son,  why  should  He  not  perform 
some  of  His  miracles  among  them  ?  Had  He  not 
been  performing  miracles  at  Capernaum,  and  was 
not  the  place  of  His  own  upbringing  more  worthy 
of  such  a  display  than  Capernaum  ?  If  tliey  did  not 
quite  treat  Eini  as  he  deserved,  it  was  His  own  fault 
for  not  treating  them  as  they  deserved.  Jesus  dis- 
cerned their  thoughts  without  any  expression  of 
them  in  words.  They  were  thinking  that  the 
Physician  might  have  healed  Himself — that  is, 
healed  His  own  people,  His  own  city.  "  Whatso- 
ever things  we  have  heard  done  in  Capernaum,  that 
do  in  thine  own  city."  But  it  was  not  the  purpose 
of  Jesus  to  show  them  signs  and  wonders.  In  point 
of  fact  He  had  shown  them  what  was  above  all 
signs  and  wonders.  And,  in  thus  declining  to  use 
His  miraculous  power,  He  had  parallel  cases.  Old 
Testament  precedents,  to  bear  Him  out.  In  the 
days  of  the  famine,  Elijah  had  wrought  no  miracle  for 
his  own  people,  they  had  abundant  evidence  of  his 
claim  without  miracles ;  it  was  but  one  pagan  widow 
who  got  that  benefit.  Elisha  had  cured  no  Israelite 
leper ;  one  leper  only  was  cured,  and  he  a  Syrian. 
Thus  Jesus  not  only  refused  to  pay  them  honour, 
but  justified  His  refusal.  He  not  only  withheld  a 
miraculous  display,  but  brought  forv/ard  for  His 
defence  the  example  of  the  highest  prophets. 

We  are  hardly  prepared  for  the  result.  But  in 
refusing  to  acknowledge  Him  when  the  evidence 
of  God's  presence  with  Him  was  so  overpowering, 
they  had   been  guilty  of  vexing   the  Holy  Spirit, 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE.        107 

and  this  prepared  the  way  for  a  terrible  outburst 
of  sin.  They  were  so  enraged  that  they  would 
have  dashed  Jesus  over  a  precipice  had  He  not 
miraculously  escaped.  So  there  was  a  miracle, 
but  it  was  not  a  miracle  of  display.  Some  may 
think  that  the  fitting  thing  for  Christ  to  do  would 
have  been  to  let  them  dash  Him  over  the  precipice, 
then  confound  their  malice  by  coming  quietly  and 
safely  to  the  ground.  But  Jesus  absolutely  avoids 
all  self-display.  In  the  spirit  of  His  rebuke  to 
Satan,  who  would  have  had  Him  cast  Himself  from 
the  pinnacle  of  the  temple.  He  declines  the  more 
ostentatious  way  of  escape.  By  some  quiet  means 
He  slips  out  of  their  hands,  and  passes  on  His 
way.  Once  more  then  He  is  rejected.  His  own 
city  are  now  the  rejecters.  Again  "  he  came  to 
his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not." 

Thus  Jesus  had  been  rejected  at  the  two  places 
where  He  might  have  looked  for  the  most  favourable 
reception.  But  there  still  remained  open  to  Him 
eastern  and  northern  Galilee.  Samaria  was  not 
the  home  of  Israelites,  and  was  therefore  passed 
over  meanwhile.  Eastern  Galilee  had  already 
yielded  Him  some  good  fruit,  in  the  person  of  the 
five  followers  secured  at  Bethabara,  and  the  other 
disciples  whom  He  afterwards  called  to  be  apostles. 
To  these  districts  of  Galilee,  therefore,  Jesus  now 
gave  His  main  attention.  Among  them  He  itinerated 
and  preached.  But  He  did  not  preach  quite  in  the 
same  strain  as  He  had  preached  at  Nazareth,  or 
as  He  had  spoken  at  Bethabara,  or  at  the  city  of 
Samaria.  We  read  (Matt.  iv.  17)  that  when  He 
began  His  ministry  in  Galilee,  His  cry  was,  "Piepent, 


108       BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  In  the 
same  Gospel  (iv.  23)  we  read  that  "  He  went  about 
all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their  synagogues,  and  preach- 
ing the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  all 
manner  of  sickness,  and  all  manner  of  disease,  among 
the  people."  Undoubtedly  His  chief  employments 
in  Galilee  were,  on  the  one  hand,  expounding  God's 
law,  and  calling  men  to  repentance ;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  scattering  everywhere  temporal  bless- 
ings.    Let  us  glance  briefly  at  these  two  things.  . 

First,  He  called  men  to  repentance.  And  m 
doing  so.  He  gave  them  a  new  idea  of  the  extent 
to  which  repentance  was  needed.  He  opened  up 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  Divine  claims  on  them 
in  a  way  that  had  never  been  known.  In  this 
point  of  view,  we  see  a  great  advance  in  our  Lord's 
teaching  over  even  the  most  spiritual  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophets.  The  prophets  had  strongly  de- 
nounced every  form  of  immorality  and  idolatry ;  they 
had  shown  the  need  of  a  new  heart,  and  in  some  of 
the  Psalms  the  cry  for  inward  conformity  to  the  law 
of  God  had  been  earnest  and  vehement.  Our  Lord's 
teaching  was  in  the  same  direction,  but  it  was  both 
more  extensive  and  more  intensive.  He  embraced 
more  fully  the  whole  sphere  of  human  life  and 
duty :  duty  to  God,  to  our  brother,  to  our  neigh- 
bour, to  our  enemies,  to  our  parents,  to  our  chil- 
dren, to  our  rulers,  even  to  our  cattle  ;  thus  indicating 
deep  obligations  in  the  whole  sphere  of  human 
life.  Then  He  penetrated  more  deeply  into  the 
soul,  exposing  irregularities  in  thought  and  feeling ; 
showing  sin  to  lie  in  every  angry  thought,  in  every 
lustful  feeling,  and  in  every  idle  word ;  and  denounc- 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE.        109 

ing  everything  that  lurked  in  the  heart  incompatible 
with  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  true  kingdom  of  God 
was  ruled  by  a  profound  inward  conformity  to  the 
will  of  God;  not  merely  an  outward  compliance 
with  what  He  required,  but  an  inward  approval  and 
delight  therein.  All  that  was  inconsistent  with 
that  was  sin;  the  kingdom  demanded  humiliation 
and  repentance  before  God;  sin  must  be  cast  out 
of  the  soul  that  was  to  inherit  the  kingdom: 
''  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart :  for  they  shall  see 
God." 

But  was  this  really  a  gospel?  Was  it  not  the 
gospel  of  impossibility,  and  therefore  the  gospel  of 
despair  ?  So  it  would  certainly  have  been  had  our 
Lord  stopped  here.  But  in  all  Christ's  preach- 
ing, when  He  demanded  repentance  and  absolute 
purity  of  soul,  there  is  an  indication  that  He  came 
not  only  to  proclaim  but  to  furnish  the  qualities 
which  He  so  earnestly  enforced.  As  in  the  case 
of  the  man  with  the  withered  hand,  our  Lord  not 
only  ordered  him  to  stretch  it  out,  but  furnished  the 
power  to  do  so ;  so,  when  He  enjoined  repentance, 
and  a  higher  righteousness  than  that  of  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  He  indicated  His  willingness  to 
supply  the  power  by  which  these  attainments  were 
to  be  secured.  Is  this  not  the  lesson  of  the  beati- 
tudes at  the  beginning  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount? 
— "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  God!"  For  men  consciously  poor  and 
needy  there  is  a  glorious  i^ro  vision  in  the  kingdom ;  the 
kingdom  supplies  the  power  by  which  they  are  fitted 
for  it,  as  the  sun  supplies  to  growing  trees  the  lumin- 
ous element  by  means  of  which  afterwards,  when  cut 


110       BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  GALILEE. 

down  and  turned  into  fuel,  they  become  light-giving 
bodies. 

This  great  truth  underlay  all  Christ's  teaching  in 
Galilee.  He  taught  men  to  pray,  "  Thy  will  be  done 
on  earth,  as  it  is  done  in  heaven ; "  but  this  prayer 
would  have  been  sheer  mockery  if  He  had  not  indi- 
cated how  power  was  to  be  got  to  do  that  will  of 
God — "  If  ye  that  are  evil  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  them  that  ask  Him  ? "  Any  representation  of 
Christ's  Galilean  ministry  which  would  view  it  as 
merely  didactic  is  defective  in  a  fnost  vital  element. 
If  that  had  been  all  that  Christ  did,  He  would  only 
have  tantalised  men.  But  there  was  heart,  and 
hope,  and  cheerfulness  in  all  His  teaching;  every 
willing  disciple  He  took  by  the  hand,  and  in- 
spired with  confidence  in  His  ability  to  lead  him 
up  to  the  heavenly  heights  to  which  He  pointed 
him. 

And  this  readiness  of  Christ  to  give  as  well  as  to 
exact  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  sphere  is  beauti- 
fully symbolised  by  the  unstinted  abundance  of  His 
miracles  of  mercy  as  He  goes  through  Galilee. 
Everywhere  He  appears  with  an  open  hand.  He 
heals  the  sick,  He  expels  evil  spirits,  He  cleanses 
lepers,  He  subdues  storms,  He  conquers  the  forces 
of  disorder,  He  even  raises  the  dead.  All  these 
acts  show  what  stores  of  temporal  power  and 
blessing  are  in  His  person.  And  very  readily  they 
suggest  the  existence  of  corresponding  spiritual 
stores.  He  that  is  so  rich  in  power  to  bless  the 
body  cannot  be  helpless  when  the  soul  has  to  be 


BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINISTKY  IN  GALILEE.        Ill 

dealt  with.  He  who  knows  so  well  and  teaches  so 
wisely  what  the  soul  ought  to  be,  cannot  be  at  a 
loss  when  called  in  as  physician  there.  And,  in 
point  of  fact,  we  find  Christ  from  time  to  time 
crossing  the  line  between  the  temporal  and  the 
spiritual.  We  find  Him  dealing  out  at  times  the 
blessing  of  forgiveness.  After  a  time,  after  the 
transfiguration  which  testified  that,  even  though  He 
was  to  be  jout  to  death,  He  was  still  the  Son  of 
God,  we  find  Him  letting  His  disciples  know  some- 
thing of  the  process  by  which  He  was  to  be  qualified 
to  grant  forgiveness  and  all  other  blessings.  He 
was  to  suffer  and  to  die.  After  the  resurrec- 
tion, He  explained  the  necessity  for  all  this,  when, 
beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets.  He  ex- 
pounded to  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things 
concerning  Himself. 

Thus  we  come  to  see  how  it  w^as  that  our  Lord 
abstained  from  preaching  in  Galilee  in  the  strain 
in  which  He  had  spoken  at  Bethabara,  at  Jeru- 
salem to  Nicodemus,  at  the  city  of  Samaria,  and  at 
Nazareth.  He  felt  it  necessary  to  go  back  a  little, 
and  prepare  men  by  more  elementary  lessons,  and 
by  more  sensible  signs,  for  the  full  revelation  of  His 
gospel.  Even  when  the  messengers  from  the  now 
imprisoned  John  come  to  Him  in  Galilee  with  their 
master's  question,  the  evidence  to  which  He  points 
is  purely  external :  "  Go  and  show  John  again  those 
things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see  :  the  blind  receive 
their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk;  the  lepers  are  cleansed, 
and  the  deaf  hear ;  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the 
poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them."  Why 
He  should  have  confined  Himself  to  the  external 


112       BEGINNING  OF  HIS  MINlSTllY  IN  GALILEE. 

proof  in  dealing  with  the  question  of  John  is  one 
of  those  difficulties  which  belong  to  this  incident, 
and  which,  from  ignorance  of  John's  precise  state 
of  mind,  it  is  not  likely  we  shall  ever  be  able  to 
remove.  But  it  illustrates  the  remark  that,  in  its 
direct  form,  the  great  doctrine  of  salvation  was  kept 
somewhat  in  abeyance  in  Galilee,  and  that  the 
doctrine  of  His  person,  and  the  exposition  of  the 
manner  in  which  He  was  to  save  men  from  their 
sins,  belonged  more  to  His  Judsean  ministry,  and  to 
the  closing  scenes  of  His  earthly  life. 

All  this  tracing  out  of  the  lines  of  our  Lord's 
ministry  in  Galilee  and  in  Judsea  is  of  importance, 
chiefly  as  helping  us  to  understand  the  plan  and 
aim  of  His  public  life.  That  life  ceases  to  be  a 
mere  collection  of  beautiful  fragments ;  it  becomes 
an  organised  whole,  systematically  directed,  though 
on  somewhat  different  lines,  to  the  great  purpose 
for  which  He  came  into  the  world.  We  see  how 
carefully  our  Lord  studied  the  capacity  of  His 
hearers,  and  adapted  His  dealings  to  the  nature  of 
the  case.  "  All  things  to  all  men  "  was  as  much 
His  motto,  and  within  similar  limits,  as  it  was 
the  apostle  Paul's.  And  for  us  there  remains  the 
abiding  lesson  to  be  patient  towards  those  who  are 
too  carnal  to  apprehend  the  more  spiritual  relations 
of  the  kingdom,  adapting  our  lessons  to  their  temper 
and  capacity,  until,  by  God's  blessing,  a  spiritual 
taste  is  formed  in  them,  and  they  learn  to  discern 
the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 


CHAPTE.E   VII. 

HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER. 

While  we  repudiate  empliatically  the  aim  of  unbe- 
lief to  reduce  Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  the  position  of 
a  mere  teacher,  we  accept  cordially  its  concession 
that  as  a  teacher  His  power  and  His  influence  were 
unrivalled.      Certainly  the   Divine  Saviour  of  the 
world  was  far  more  than  a  teacher ;  but  a  teacher,  a 
prophet  of  the  Lord,  He  undoubtedly  was.     It  is 
remarkable  that  even  in  the  earlier  days  of  His 
public  ministry,  before  He  could  have  acquired  the 
facilities  that  usually  come  from  experience  and 
practice,  His  ability  as  a  teacher  impressed  all  kinds 
of  hearers.      It  was   in  the  earliest  days  of  His 
Jud^an  ministry  that   Nicodemus   came  to   Him, 
assured  that  He  was  a  teacher  sent  from  God,  and 
therefore  able  to  solve  the  great  mysteries  that  seem 
to  have  been  pressing  on  him  respecting   sin  and 
salvation,  life  and  death.     It  was  on  occasion  of  His 
first  visit  to  Nazareth,  not  far  from  the  beginning  of 
His  public  career,  that  His  hearers  "  wondered  at 
the  gracious  words  that  proceeded  out  of  His  mouth." 
It  is  of  His  first  great  public  discourse  in  Galilee 
that  Matthew  says  :  "  The  people  were  astonished 
at  his  teaching,  for  he  taught  them  as  one  having 

H 


114  HIS  WOEK  AS  TEACHER. 

authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes."  It  was  early  in 
His  ministry,  too,  as  we  find  it  recorded  in  John  vii., 
that  the  officers  sent  by  the  priests  and  Pharisees 
to  apprehend  Him  brought  back  the  testimony — 
"  Never  man  spake  like  this  man."  Later  on,  we 
find  similar  testimonies  to  the  remarkable  ability 
and  power  of  His  teaching.  The  common  people 
heard  Him  gladly.  The  people  pressed  on  Him  to 
hear  the  Word  of  God  (Luke  v.  1).  The  publicans 
and  sinners  drew  near  to  hear  Him  (Luke  xv.  1). 
On  occasion  of  His  last  visit  to  Jerusalem  all  the 
people  came  early  in  the  morning  to  the  temple  for 
to  hear  Him  (Luke  xxi.  38).  It  was  this  readiness 
of  the  people  to  hear,  and  this  practice  of  hearing 
with  interest,  that  led  our  Lord  to  give  so  many 
warnings  on  the  insufficiency  of  mere  hearing,  as  in 
the  parable  of  the  sower,  or  in  the  solemn  contrast 
between  the  house  built  on  the  rock  and  the  house 
built  on  the  sand. 

There  are  two  uses  to  be  made  of  our  Lord's 
qualities  as  a  teacher,  and  on  the  first  blush  it  might 
be  supposed  that  these  are  inconsistent  with  one 
another.  The  one  use  may  be  termed  apologetic, 
and  the  other  homiletic.  When  we  view  His  teach- 
ing aiwlogctically  we  find  it  far  above  all  mere  human 
teaching,  and  on  this  quality  we  construct  an  argu- 
ment for  His  Divine  mission.  When  we  view  it 
Iwmiletically  we  regard  it  as  furnishing  an  example 
to  us,  and  we  endeavour  to  bring  out  the  particulars 
in  which  the  example  holds.  But  is  it  possible  to 
combine  these  views  ?  May  Christ's  teaching  be  so 
far  above  us  as  to  prove  that  He  was  far  more  than 
a  human  teacher,  and  yet  so  much  on  the  same  plane 


HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER.  115 

with  US  as  to  furnish  us  with  an  example  ?  If  we 
exalt  it  in  either  aspect,  do  we  not  depress  it  in  the 
other  ?  Must  we  not  say  of  it  as  of  the  baptism  of 
John,  that  it  was  either  of  heaven  or  of  men  ? 

These  questions  are  not  difficult  to  answer.  It  is 
in  respect  of  the  source  whence  it  was  derived  that 
the  teaching  of  Christ  was  so  palpably  and  com- 
pletely above  us.  No  earthly  fountain  of  wisdom 
could  have  furnished  it.  His  countrymen  saw  this, 
and  wondered,  and  asked,  "  From  whence  hath  this 
man  this  wisdom  ?"  (Matt.  xiii.  54.)  From  the 
mind  of  Christ  truth  came  out  not  in  little  sparks 
but  in  brilliant  flashes;  not  in  drops  but  in  gushing 
streams.  Unlike  Socrates  and  Plato,  and  the  other 
wise  men  of  the  early  world.  He  did  not  grope 
and  guess,  but  He  walked  steadily,  fearlessly,  erect, 
through  realms  of  darkness  and  mystery.  He  seemed 
endued  with  a  new  spiritual  sense.  The  ways  and 
purposes  of  God,  hidden  from  our  view  so  far  away 
in  the  depths,  seemed  to  Him  a  familiar  theme. 
The  phrases  that  are  so"^often  in  the  mouths  of  the 
greatest  philosophers  about  the  limitation  of  our 
knowledge  were  never  used  by  Him,  except  with 
reference  to  one  thing — a  day  of  which  not  even  the 
Son  knew,  but  only  the  Father.  He  did  not,  like 
Newton,  compare  Himself  to  a  child  gathering 
pebbles  on  the  beach,  while  the  great  ocean  of  truth 
lay  unexplored  before  Him.  He  did  not,  like 
Butler,  speak  of  the  government  of  God  as  a 
scheme  imperfectly  comprehended.  He  did  not,  like 
Paul,  contrast  the  state  in  which  we  see  through  a 
glass  darkly  with  the  state  in  which  we  are  to  see 
face  to   face.     Not  only  did   He   appear  to    know 


116  HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER. 

certainly  all  that  He  did  teach,  but  He  appeared 
also  to  possess  great  stores  of  Divine  truth  which  He 
kept  in  reserve.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that  in  all  this 
He  showed  a  trace  of  pretentiousness.  His  lessons 
have  stood  the  test  of  eighteen  hundred  years.  All 
that  time  it  is  His  torch  that  has  been  flaming  in 
the  van  of  the  truth-loving  host,  and  guiding  their 
steps  towards  the  land  of  promise.  All  that  time 
the  great  spiritual  leaders  of  the  race  have  owned 
allegiance  to  Him.  No  spiritual  Seer  has  arisen  to 
overtop  Him,  or  to  give  a  new  direction  to  the  steps 
of  men  bent  on  learning  the  ways  of  God. 

The  teaching  of  Christ,  therefore,  is  an  impreg- 
nable apologetical  argument.  It  shatters  the  theory 
that  He  was  merely  a  young  man  of  remarkable 
powers  who  picked  up  His  ideas  cleverly  among  the 
hills  of  Nazareth.  The  judgment  of  all  fair  men 
goes  as  far  at  least  as  that  of  Nicodemus,  that  He 
was  "  a  teacher  sent  from  God." 

While  the  apologetical  position  is  thus  secure, 
the  homiletical  and  pastoral  rests  on  an  equally 
firm  foundation.  The  process  by  which  our  Lord 
obtained  His  knowledge  of  Divine  things  is  hid 
from  us ;  but  the  knowledge  which  He  did  obtain, 
and  the  manner  in  which  He  made  use  of  that 
knowledge,  are  recorded  for  our  instruction  in  the 
narratives  of  the  Evangelists.  The  truths  which  He 
imparted  are  matter  of  revelation — His  method  of 
imparting  them  is  matter  of  observation.  Both 
these  matters  are  not  only  legitimate  topics  for  our 
study  as  His  servants,  but  if  we  should  fail  to  study 
and  ponder  them,  we  should  be  guilty  of  a  great 
breach  of  duty.     In  the  present  chapter  our  subject 


HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHEK.  117 

will  be  chiefly  the  truths  Christ  taught;  in  what 
is  to  follow  we  shall  consider  the  form  and  method 
of  His  teaching.  First,  What  were  the  great 
truths  which  He  made  it  His  business  to  pro- 
claim ?  Next,  What  was  characteristic  of  His  way 
of  handling  them,  and  of  finding  an  entrance  for 
them  into  the  understanding,  the  conscience,  and 
the  feelings  of  His  hearers  ? 

Before  we  take  up  what  is  ordinarily  understood 
by  the  substance  of  Christ's  teaching,  we  must  fasten 
attention  on  a  very  remarkable  feature  of  it,  well 
fitted  to  be  an  introduction  to  the  whole,  because 
it  forms  a  connecting  link  between  the  Divine  and 
the  human.  The  feature  we  refer  to  is  the  connec- 
tion of  Christ's  teaching  with  His  person.  His 
teaching  was  eminently  personal,  and  this  not 
accidentally  but  essentially.  He  Himself  was  the 
centre  of  His  system.  A  great  purpose  of  His 
preaching  was  to  reveal  Himself,  and  to  induce  men 
to  accept  Him  and  use  Him  in  conformity  with  this 
manifestation. 

But  this  was  very  different  from  what  may  be 
called  the  personality  of  some  men's  teaching. 
Among  ordinary  teachers,  we  find  great  differences 
in  this  respect.  Some  men  keep  themselves  entirely 
apart  from  what  they  speak  or  write, — they  lose 
themselves  in  the  subject ;  while  other  men  mix 
themselves  up  with  it,  and,  indeed,  are  hardly 
capable  of  viewing  it  apart  from  their  own  ex- 
perience. We  may  take  the  historical  books  of 
the  Old  Testament  as  samples  of  writings  where 
the  writer  is  as  completely  out  of  sight  as  he  is  in 
the  propositions   of  Euclid.      On   the  other  hand, 


118  HIS  WOEK  AS  TEACHER. 

we  may  take  Jeremiah  or  Ezekiel  as  samples  of 
writers  whose  personality  runs  like  a  thread  through 
the  whole  texture  of  their  work.  A  still  more 
marked  instance  is  that  of  the  apostle  Paul, 
especially  in  the  more  important  and  characteristic 
of  his  epistles.  There  the  personal  element  is  so 
strong  and  so  characteristic  that  even  the  modern 
critical  school  is  compelled  to  ascribe  these  epistles  ^ 
to  Paul. 

In  general  terms,  we  should  say  that  Jesus  be- 
longed to  the  latter  class  of  teachers.  But  on 
closer  examination  it  is  found  that  the  personal 
element  in  His  teaching  was  essentially  different 
from  the  same  element  in  theirs.  It  was  not  that 
He  mixed  up  His  own  experiences  with  what  He 
taught  on  Divine  things  to  His  disciples,  but  that 
He  ever  represented  His  personality  as  a  vital  ele- 
ment in  His  system.  For  men  cou]d  not  receive 
His  moral  teaching  to  any  good  purpose  unless  they 
received  Himself.  That  which  first  of  all  He  was 
ever  most  eager  to  press  was,  that  He  was  the 
Messiah,  the  Son  of  God  sent  into  the  world,  to 
guide  lost  men  to  salvation,  and  if  they  were  to  be 
saved,  they  must  become  one  with  Him. 

So  vital  did  our  Lord  deem  this,  that  in  the 
fourth  Gospel  it  is  the  conspicuous  feature  through- 
out. Not  that  it  is  absent  in  the  first  three: 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  who  labour  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest," — is  the  view  pre- 
sented in  the  Synoptics  of  what  He  is,  and  of  the 
manner  in  which  men  are  to  be  blessed.  "  All 
things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Father "  is  the 

1  Romans,  1st  and  2cl  Corinthians,  Galatians. 


HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER.  110 

ground  on  which  in  these  Gospels  He  rests  His 
claim,  and  vindicates  His  invitation.  But  in  the 
fourth  Gospel,  His  oneness  with  the  Father  is  pro- 
claimed in  ways  without  number,  as  well  as  the 
fact  that  by  divine  ordination  His  person  is  the 
one  storehouse  of  all  blessing  for  the  children  of 
men.  He  is  the  light  of  the  world,  the  bread  of 
life,  the  water  of  life,  the  resurrection  and  the  life. 
And  what  makes  this  truth  of  such  boundless  im- 
portance is,  that  unless  men  believe  it,  and  come 
to  Christ  for  all  spiritual  blessing,  they  cannot  ob- 
tain such  blessing.  "I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the 
branches.  Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you  ;  as  the  branch 
cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself  except  it  abide  in  the 
vine,  no  more  can  ye  except  ye  abide  in  me." 
"Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  Very  plainly, 
Jesus  had  a  consciousness  of  a  relation  to  God 
essentially  different  from  that  of  any  prophet,  and 
different  from  anything  ever  claimed  by  any  founder 
of  a  religious  school. 

It  was  from  this  exalted  standpoint  that  He 
taught  His  other  lessons.  The  sceptic  may  say, 
"This  was  a  hallucination  —  but  apart  from  this, 
His  views  of  truth  were  very  clear,  and  His  lessons 
remarkably  powerful."  But  let  us  observe  that, 
apart  from  supernatural  vision,  there  is  but  one 
thing  that  can  give  great  insight  into  truth,  and 
great  power  of  imparting  it.  That  one  thing  is 
singleness  of  eye,  freedom  from  prejudice,  purity  of 
moral  nature,  the  stillness  of  the  element  in  which 
one  lives.  In  nature,  no  man  sees  far  with  a  watery 
eye  or  in  a  foggy  or  tremulous  atmosphere.  In  a 
stormy  day  no  eye  can  penetrate  to  the  depths  of 


120  HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER. 

ocean  through  foaming  waves.  So  in  the  spiritual 
world  one's  nature  must  be  pure  and  still,  undis- 
turbed by  prejudice,  unmoved  by  hallucinations,  to 
see  deep  into  moral  and  sjjiritual  truth.  But  if 
Jesus  was  under  the  wildest  hallucination  as  to  His 
own  person — if  He  was  mystified  by  Old  Testament 
ideas  of  a  Messiah,  He  was  under  the  influence  of  a 
disturbing  cause  that  would  have  dimmed  His  spiri- 
tual eye,  and  blurred  the  whole  landscape  of  truth. 
The  sceptical  position  is  the  absurd  one,  that  the 
most  prejudiced  and  mistaken  of  all  teachers  was 
by  far  the  clearest  and  the  best.  We  must  either 
deny  Him  all  true  insight  and  spiritual  power ;  or 
acknowledge  Him  in  the  personality  which  He 
claimed — as  the  anointed  of  the  Father,  contain- 
ing, in  His  own  person,  all  the  blessings  needed  for 
sinful  men. 

Between  the  Great  Teacher  testifying  of  His 
own  person  as  the  appointed  storehouse  of  all  sav- 
ing blessin^?,  and  the  teachers  whom  He  now  sends 
to  minister  to  His  Church,  there  is,  and  can  be,  in 
this  vital  feature,  no  resemblance.  The  function 
of  all  teachers  in  respect  of  this  feature  is  simply 
that  of  witnesses.  They  are  not  that  light,  not 
even  a  spark  of  it,  but  are  sent  to  bear  witness  of 
the  light.  They  are  sent  to  proclaim  wherever  they 
go,  that  "  it  hath  pleased  the  Father  that  IN  Him 
should  all  fulness  dwell."  Vital  union  with  Christ 
brings  with  it  pardon,  acceptance,  holiness,  strength, 
consolation.  Nor,  apart  from  this  vital  union,  is 
there  any  possible  way  of  obtaining  such  blessings. 
As  little  could  you  find,  apart  from  the  sun,  any 
provision  of  light  and  heat,  and  other  solar  influ- 


HIS  WOEK  AS  TEACHER.  121 

ences  for  some  planet  that  had  shot  away  from  its 
orbit  and  plunged  into  the  abyss,  as  apart  from  the 
person  of  Christ  you  can  find  light  and  life  and 
power  for  any  sinful  soul.  Woe  be  to  the  minister 
who  does  not  make  the  person  of  Christ  the  centre 
of  his  system,  and  the  fount  of  all  blessing !  A 
gospel  resting  on  any  other  basis  is  not  Christ's 
gospel  at  all. 

Passing  now  to  the  consideration  of  what  in  the 
more  ordinary  sense  was  the  matter  of  our  Lord's 
teaching,  we  cannot  but  be  struck  with  its  eminently 
practical  character.  It  is  not  doctrinaire  teaching ; 
it  gives  us  no  theory  of  the  universe ;  no  system 
either  of  philosophy  or  theology ;  no  categorical 
answers  to  the  questions  that  had  been  puzzling 
inquirers  from  generation  to  generation.  In  form  it 
is  very  unlike  such  works  as  Calvin's  Institutes,  The 
Westminster  Confession,  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Pro- 
gress, or  Boston's  Fourfold  State.  It  is  like  clinical 
teaching,  not  the  teaching  of  the  class  ;  like  the 
teaching  of  the  physician  in  the  hospital,  finding 
there  a  great  number  of  impotent  folk,  and  trying 
simply  to  show  how  each  of  them  is  to  be  made 
whole.  Jesus  finds  men  sick  and  dying ;  He  takes 
them  by  the  hand,  raises  them  up,  and  leads  them 
back  to  God.  And  yet,  while  Christ's  teaching 
is  thus  unformal,  incidental,  and  as  it  were  pro 
re  natd,  it  is  wonderfully  complete,  with  reference 
to  its  object.  He  just  takes  man  as  he  is  in  all 
his  disorder  and  misery,  and  He  not  only  shows 
how  he  is  to  be  renewed  and  restored,  but  He  actu- 
ally renews  and  restores  him.  He  establishes  for 
him  a  communication  between  heaven   and  earth. 


122  HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER. 

and  He  brings  the  one  down  to  the  other.  His 
words  are  not  truth  merely,  they  are  spirit  and 
life.  What  a  different  man  the  apostle  Peter  is 
when  he  comes,  as  it  were,  out  of  Christ's  hands ! 
At  first  ignorant,  self-confident,  and  unstable  as 
water,  he  has  become  spiritually  wise,  strong 
through  distrust  of  himself,  and  firm  as  a  rock  in 
his  testimony  for  truth  and  duty.  It  is  the  spiri- 
tual influence  of  Christ  that  has  changed  him ; 
under  Christ's  influence,  that  which  was  born  of 
the  flesh  has  been  displaced  in  Peter  by  that  which 
is  born  of  the  Spirit. 

But  what,  in  substance,  were  the  lessons  which 
Christ  taught  ? 

I.  Let  us  begin  with  the  great  central  subject — 
God.  It  is  of  Him  and  of  His  ways  that  man  needs 
most  to  learn.  Pirst,  Christ  taught  His  righteous- 
ness, His  claims  on  man,  His  intolerance  of  sin,  the 
certainty  and  the  awfulness  of  the  judgment  of  sin, 
especially  in  the  life  to  come.  This  view  of  God 
underlies  all  His  teaching.  Man  is  a  sinner,  and 
needs  to  be  forgiven.  God  has  given  him  a  law, 
but  he  has  not  kept  that  law.  The  idea  of  deserved 
punishment,  the  idea  of  hell  as  the  place  of  punish- 
ment, is  conspicuous  in  all  Christ's  teaching,  and  a 
dark  and  terrible  element  of  that  teaching  it  is. 
But  further,  Christ  taught  that  God  had  brought  in 
an  economy  of  grace,  of  which  economy  He  Himself, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  the  head.  The  angels'  song 
was  a  glimpse  of  the  glorious  truth  which  was 
revealed  in  its  fulness  on  the  cross  at  Calvary. 
Man  is  not  left  to  perish,  for  God  has  sent  His  Son, 
"  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not  perish, 


HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER.  123 

but  should  have  everlasting  life."  Salvation  is  not 
of  merit,  it  is  of  grace.  It  does  not  come  to  the 
pharisee  with  all  his  respectability,  but  to  the  pub- 
lican who  smites  on  his  breast  and  cries,  "  God  be 
merciful  to  me  a  sinner!"  Publicans  and  sinners 
are  not  beyond  the  pale  of  this  dispensation  of  grace ; 
for  Christ  came  to  call  not  the  righteous  but  sinners 
to  repentance.  Yet  this  grace  which  reaches  the 
sinner  does  not  break  down  the  claims  of  law  and 
righteousness ;  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise 
pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled.  The  Son  of 
man  gives  His  life  a  ransom  for  many.  The  cup  in 
the  holy  Supper  is  the  new  testament  in  His  blood, 
shed  for  the  remission  of  the  sins  of  many.  The 
conditions  of  redemption  by  Christ  are,  that  the 
claims  of  the  righteous  law  shall  be  implemented  to 
the  uttermost,  yet  the  door  of  mercy  is  to  be  thrown 
open,  and  publicans  and  harlots  are  to  be  admitted 
to  the  blessings  of  the  kingdom. 

It  was  not  enough  for  Christ  to  teach  that  God 
had  provided  a  channel  by  which  His  grace  might 
flow  to  sinners;  He  showed  by  emblems  of  great 
beauty  and  power  how  rich  and  comprehensive  this 
grace  of  God  is.  This  is  the  great  lesson  of  the 
parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  The  compassion  of 
God  is  not  extinguished  even  by  the  most  unnatural 
conduct  of  men.  There  are  yearnings  in  the  Divine 
bosom  toward  the  most  inexcusable  and  guilty. 
He  teaches  us  to  call  Him  "  Our  Father  which  art 
in  heaven."  No  doubt  this  lesson  had  been  taught 
in  the  Old  Testament.  It  had  been  verified  in  the 
history  of  rebellious  Israel.  It  was  the  lesson  of 
the  103d  psalm  and  other  psalms;  it  was  the  gospel 


124  HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER. 

of  Isaiah  and  the  other  prophets ;  it  was  the  very- 
spirit  of  the  whole  course  of  Eevelation.  What 
Christ  did  was  to  repeat  these  lessons,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  give  them  a  new  emphasis  and  pathos. 
For  Jesus  not  only  taught  them  in  words,  but  exem- 
plified them  in  His  life.  Symbolically  He  showed 
the  mercy  which  He  proclaimed.  When  He  touched 
and  cleansed  the  leper;  when  He  accepted  the  homage 
of  the  woman  that  was  a  sinner,  and  sent  her  away 
forgiven ;  when  He  brought  salvation  to  the  home 
of  Zaccheus — that  publican  extortioner ;  when  He 
prayed  for  His  murderers;  when  He  gave  to  the 
wretched  thief  a  pass  to  Paradise  ;  when  he  met  the 
persecutor  breathing  out  threatenings  and  slaughter 
and  turned  him  into  an  apostle,  He  was  in  all  these 
things  at  once  proclaiming  and  exemplifying  the 
marvellous  riches  of  the  grace  of  God.  Can  any  one 
deny  that  this  was  the  great  glory  of  Cbrist's  teach- 
ing— His  teaching  by  life  even  more  than  by  word  ? 
He  proclaimed  an  infinite  tenderness  in  the  Divine 
bosom,  but  in  union  with  infinite  righteousness ;  an 
infinite  bounty  resting  on  infinite  holiness.  Bound- 
less mercy,  but  no  trifling  with  sin :  a  compassion 
that  trembles  at  every  human  sorrow,  yet  a  majesty 
that  upholds  the  law  to  its  last  jot  and  tittle. 

The  lesson  is  all  the  more  striking  that  it  connects 
itself  so  closely  with  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  That 
the  most  gracious  of  all  beings  should  also  be  the 
deepest  sufferer ;  that  He  who  was  ever  scattering 
blessings  should  be  familiar  with  sorrow  like  no 
other  sorrow ;  that  He  who  was  "  the  light  of  the 
world"  should  have  been  the  person  to  encounter 
the  hour  and  power  of  darkness  ;  this  is  strange 


HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER.  1  25 

indeed.  But  it  makes  the  lesson  that  Christ  teaches 
all  the  more  striking :  He  magnifies  the  grace  that 
heals  all  our  diseases ;  but  when  the  instrument  of 
this  healing  is  inquired  for,  it  is  seen  that  it  is  "  ly 
His  stripes  that  we  are  healed." 

Equally  remarkable  was  the  view  which  Christ 
presented  of  the  spirituality  of  God,  and  of  the  fact 
that  our  whole  bearing  toward  Him,  our  obedience, 
our  trust,  our  worship  must  be  essentially  from  and 
by  the  spirit.  Our  obedience  must  be  the  obedience 
of  willing  hearts,  free  and  unconstrained — a  surren- 
der of  our  will  to  His  will ;  and  to  help  us  to  realise 
this  we  have  the  prayer,  "  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth 
as  it  is  in  heaven."  Our  religion  must  be  a  very 
trustful  religion,  a  leaning  on  our  Father  even  in 
the  dark,  a  happy  confiding  assurance  that  if  He 
feeds  the  ravens  He  will  not  leave  us  to  starve,  if 
He  clothes  the  lilies,  His  children  shall  not  go  in 
rags.  And  our  worship  must  be  a  very  spiritual 
worship :  its  one  great  rule  being  that  God  is  a 
Spu'it,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship 
Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  No  drawing  near  to 
Him  with  the  lips  while  the  heart  is  far  from  Him ; 
no  new  moons  or  appointed  feasts  while  the  hands 
are  full  of  blood.  Nothing  is  more  remarkable  in 
what  Jesus  prescribed  as  to  the  worship  in  His 
Church  than  the  entire  absence  of  those  minute 
directions  which  were  so  conspicuous  in  the  Church 
of  the  Old  Testament.  What  confidence  He  must 
have  had  in  the  infusion  into  men's  hearts  of  the 
spirit  of  worship,  and  in  that  spirit  clothing  itself 
in  suitable  forms !  Did  ever  a  religion  start  with 
so  little  of  form  and  outward  ceremony,  with  such 


126  HIS  WOKK  AS  TEACHER. 

an  absence  of  that  which  the  human  heart  substi- 
tutes for  spiritual  service  ?  The  fact  that  in  the 
Church  of  Rome  and  elsewhere  men  have  added  so 
much  of  this  kind  to  the  religion  of  Christ  makes 
its  spirituality,  as  it  came  from  Him,  all  the  more 
remarkable. 

Then,  as  to  the  sphere  of  God's  service.  Our 
Lord  never  taught  that  the  sphere  of  divine  service 
is  apart  from  everything  else,  and  that  the  dis- 
charge of  duties  technically  religious  is  what  will 
please  God.  Nothing  was  more  abhorrent  to  His 
mind  than  that  tithes  of  mint,  anise,  and  cumin 
could  give  pleasure  to  God,  when  men  were  out- 
raging the  weightier  matters — mercy,  judgment,  and 
faith.  It  was  absurd  to  attach  a  sanctity  to  the 
gold  of  the  temple  which  did  not  belong  to  the 
temple  itself.  It  was  horrible  to  relieve  sons  from 
their  duty  to  their  parents  by  the  pretext  that  they 
were  consecrating  their  money  to  God.  If  men 
were  to  serve  God  at  all,  they  were  to  serve  Him 
all  round.  It  is  true  that  the  germs  of  all  this  teach- 
ing are  found  in  the  prophets.  What  our  Lord  did 
was  to  bring  it  into  a  clearer  and  more  striking 
light — to  give  it  the  sort  of  relief  which  is  given 
by  the  stereoscope  to  the  lines  of  a  photograph — 
to  make  it  start  out,  vivid,  pointed,  arresting,  on 
the  canvas  of  Scripture.  "Whoever  ponders  Christ's 
lessons  can  have  no  doubt  or  difficulty  on  this  point 
— that  no  service,  no  offering,  no  homage  can  please 
God  which  is  not  the  outcome  of  a  loving,  loyal 
heart.  And  where  the  heart  is  loyal,  it  will  try,  in 
everything,  to  please  God. 


HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER.  127 

II.  Precisely  corresponding  to  these  views  of  God 
were  the  lessons  which  Christ  taught  regarding  man. 
As  we  have  seen,  He  tanght  his  need  of  recon- 
ciliation, of  forgiveness,  of  deliverance  from  hell,  of 
everlasting  life.  He  taught  his  need  of  union  to 
Himself,  in  order  that  he  might  share  the  blessings 
which  He  brought,  and  live  with  Him  in  everlasting 
rest  and  glory.  He  laid  great  emphasis  on  these 
topics,  for  He  taught  a  high  doctrine  on  the  value 
of  man.  Perhaps  in  analysing  His  teaching  we 
ought  to  put  His  doctrine  of  the  value  of  man  in 
one  of  the  foremost  places.  Jesus  Christ  "  brought 
life  and  immortality  to  light."  Not  a  human  crea- 
ture came  within  His  ken  whom  He  did  not  think 
of  as  an  immortal  being,  and  whom,  in  that  aspect, 
He  did  not  regard  with  profound  concern.  The  Old 
Testament  had  dealt  with  men  chiefly  in  the  mass, 
or  if  it  attached  great  importance  to  individuals, 
it  was  mostly  individuals  of  high  position  and 
influence, — usually  kings,  holding  in  their  hands  the 
lives  of  all  their  people.  But  in  the  New  Testament 
and  under  Christ's  teaching,  the  individual  soul 
rises  to  sublime  importance,  and  becomes  a  jewel 
of  incomparable  worth.  We  tremble  as  we  think 
of  its  value  and  its  possible  destiny.  Why  might 
not  the  woman  that  was  a  sinner  have  been  left  to 
end  her  life  as  she  began  it?  Why  should  the 
thief  on  the  cross  have  been  taken  such  notice  of, 
and  have  got  such  a  promise  ?  Of  what  use  was  it 
for  Christ  to  arrest  Zaccheus  in  his  covetous  life, 
and  compromise  His  own  character  in  the  eyes  of 
the  respectable  classes  by  appearing  as  a  friend 
of  publicans  and  sinners  ?     Because  they  had  im- 


128  HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER. 

mortal  souls.  It  might  be  but  a  step  for  them  to 
the  grave ;  but  when  they  rose  again,  they  that  had 
done  good  would  rise  to  the  resurrection  of  life,  and 
they  that  had  done  evil  to  the  resurrection  of  con- 
demnation. Men  are  not  dumb  driven  cattle !  It 
is  Christ  that  has  taught  us,  far  beyond  any  prophet 
of  the  old  economy,  to  honour  all  men  because  of 
their  immortality,  and  to  hold  no  labour  too  great 
to  save  a  single  soul. 

The  word  "soul"  indeed  got  a  higher  meaning  in 
the  lips  of  Christ.  To  fear  those  that  killed  the 
body  was  foolish;  but  it  was  a  different  thing  to 
fear  Him  who  had  power  over  the  soul.  Nor  was 
the  soul  merely  the  part  of  a  man,  so  to  speak,  that 
would  survive,  the  part  that  would  be  happy  or 
miserable  hereafter.  The  soul  was  the  man  himself, 
the  inner,  the  essential  part  of  him,  that  to  which 
everything  that  was  good  or  valuable  in  him  be- 
longed in  this  life,  as  well  as  in  the  life  to  come. 
His  outer  man,  his  wealth,  his  decorations,  his  best 
actions  even,  were  absolutely  nothing — had  no  atom 
of  intrinsic  value :  his  soul  was  all.  What  he  was 
in  the  inner  man  of  the  heart  was  the  vital  matter ; 
what  qualities  flourished  there ;  God-like  on  the  one 
hand,  devil-like  on  the  other ;  born  of  the  Spirit,  or 
born  of  the  flesh.  At  the  core  of  every  man's  being 
was  a  mysterious  something  that  determined  all 
the  rest;  if  that  was  right,  all  was  right;  if  that 
was  perverted,  the  whole  man  was  in  disorder ;  and 
as  the  disorder,  if  unchanged  now,  would  last  for 
ever,  the  whole  life  to  come  would  be  wrapt  in 
misery. 

Nor  could  the  disorder  be  removed  and  the  soul 


HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER.  1 29 

made  whole  but  by  the  grace  of  Christ.  The  cause 
of  the  disorder  was  separation  froni  God;  but  by 
Him  God  came  back  into  the  soul  and  shed  over  it 
all  His  gracious  influence.  "  I  am  the  way,  and  the 
truth,  and  the  life ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father 
but  by  me."  "  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my 
words,  and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will 
come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him."  The 
soul  must  be  thrown  open,  and  wholly  open,  to  the 
Divine  influence.  It  must  be  emptied  of  the  carnal. 
"Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon."  "Blessed 
are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  And  men  must  not  spend  their  lives  in 
a  hesitating  way,  as  if  uncertain  whether  it  be  worth 
while  to  sacrifice  anything  for  Christ.  "  If  any 
man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and 
take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me."  We  must  deny, 
renounce,  empty  ourselves.  This  self-emptying  is 
a  very  comprehensive  process.  We  must  renounce 
our  own  righteousness  and  accept  of  His ;  we  must 
renounce  our  own  will,  and  follow  His;  we  must 
renounce  our  own  honour,  credit,  and  profit,  and  be 
content  to  serve  our  King.  "  He  that  saveth  his 
life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  shall 
save  it."  Selfishness  in  every  form  gets  a  mortal 
blow  from  Christ.  We  are  to  do  our  duty,  we  are 
to  follow  our  Master,  we  are  to  seek  the  welfare  of 
others,  even  though  personally  we  should  suffer 
thereby.  Is  this  a  hard  rule  ?  It  was  our  Master's 
rule.  The  disciple  is  not  above  his  master,  nor  the 
servant  above  his  lord.  It  was  a  rule  that  in  Christ's 
own  case  led  to  noble  and  glorious  results,  and  the 
results  cannot  be  attained  by  us  but  by  the  practice 

1 


130  HIS  WOEK  AS  TEACHER. 

of  the  rule.  The  principle  of  the  world  is  self- 
indulgence;  Christ's  is  self-denial.  It  was  a  bold 
stroke  of  policy  to  substitute  self-denial  for  self- 
indulgence.  Just  in  proportion  as  men  have  really 
followed  Christ  has  the  substitution  been  effected. 
And  it  is  from  this  substitution  that  all  has  come 
that  is  best  and  purest  in  the  lives  and  labours  of 
Christian  men. 

III.  "We  add  a  word  on  what  was  most  character- 
istic in  Christ's  teaching  as  to  our  bearing  towards 
our  fellow-men.  It  is  summed  up  in  the  golden 
rule:  "Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do 
to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them."  When  you  have  to  do 
with  other  men,  put  yourself  in  their  place,  think 
how  you  would  have  them  to  act  to  you,  and  act 
you  so  to  them.  Here  we  find  another  great  blow 
given  to  selfishness.  Moralists,  trying  to  establish 
morality  on  an  independent  basis,  have  found  a 
great  difficulty  here.  How  are  men  to  be  induced 
to  think  of  others  and  act  fairly  and  kindly  by  them  ? 
Under  Christ,  all  is  plain.  In  Him,  men  become 
brethren.  Becoming  one  with  Him,  they  become 
one  with  each  other.  "Being  born  again,  not  of 
corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the  word 
of  God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever,"  they 
learn  to  "  love  one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fer- 
vently." It  was  nothing  short  of  a  revolution  our 
Lord  effected  when  He  taught — "  The  princes  of  the 
Gentiles  exercise  dominion  over  them,  .  .  .  but  it 
shall  not  be  so  among  you :  but  whosoever  will  be 
great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister;  and 
whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your 


HIS  WOKK  AS  TEACHEE.  131 

servant :  even  as  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  bis 
life  a  ransom  for  many."  It  is  the  servant  of  all 
that  is  greatest  of  all.  The  truly  successful  man 
is  not  be  that  has  done  most  for  himself,  but  he 
that  has  done  most  for  others.  Eeal  wealth  is  not 
measured  by  the  amount  of  one's  property,  but  by 
the  capacity  to  use  it  well.  Greatness  does  not  lie 
in  ability  to  draw  everything  to  one's-self,  but  in 
ability  to  use  what  one  gets  for  the  good  of  the 
many.  To  live  for  God,  and  for  God's  sake  to  be- 
come the  servant  of  others ;  to  soothe  the  sorrows 
and  lighten  the  burdens  of  the  oppressed ;  to  make 
the  world's  crooked  places  straight,  and  its  rough 
places  plain;  to  rescue  the  perishing;  raise  the 
fallen,  and  cheer  the  desolate ;  to  do  all  these  offices 
of  love  with  unwearying  patience  and  self-denial, 
and  not  grudge  the  expenditure  of  ease  and  health, 
and  life  itself,  when  called  for ;— such  is  our  Lord's 
idea  of  greatness,  and  such  is  the  lesson  w^hich,  alike 
by  example  and  precept.  He  has  left  for  us  all.^ 

Some  men  have  professed  to  detect  flaws  in  the 
teaching  of  our  Lord.  According  to  one  view.  He 
gave  too  much  encouragement  to  the  passive  endur- 
ing of  wrong;  according  to  another,  He  did  the 
very  opposite — He  was  disrespectful  to  the  rulers, 
and  did  too  much  to  excite  the  disaffection  of  the 
people.  According  to  some,  He  discouraged  industry 
and  all  interest  in  worldly  affairs ;  He  taught  men 
that  it  was  a  sin  to  be  rich  and  a  virtue  to  be  poor ; 
encouraged  them  to  hate  their  father  and  mother, 
and  not  mind  though  they  kindled  strife  even  in 
1  Glim])ses  of  the  Inner  Life  of  our  Lord. 


132  HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER. 

the  bosom  of  their  homes.  It  need  hardly  be  said 
that  such  views  are  founded  on  a  false  view  of  the 
meaning  of  what  Christ  taught.  And  as  for  those 
who  tell  us  that  the  day  is  coming  when  a  moral 
code  shall  be  in  operation  as  much  superior  to  that 
of  Christ  as  Christ's  was  superior  to  that  which  went 
before  it, — we  would  just  say,  "Let  not  him  that 
girdeth  on  his  armour  boast  himself  like  him  that 
putteth  it  off."  There  is  hardly  a  soul,  unless  it  has 
been  utterly  darkened  by  vice,  that  does  not  discern 
something  singularly  pure  and  beautiful  in  the 
moral  teaching  of  Jesus.  To  some,  indeed,  its  fault 
is  that  it  is  too  high — 

*'  Too  bright,  too  good 
For  human  nature's  daily  food. " 

But  few  have  failed  to  see  the  marks  of  its  heavenly 
origin,  and  to  pay  to  it  in  their  hearts  the  homage 
due  to  pure  truth.  The  Hindu  to  whom  some 
chance  had  brought  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and 
who,  after  reading  it,  was  so  impressed  by  its 
divinity,  that,  being  unable  to  sleep,  he  got  up  in 
the  night,  hastened  to  the  house  of  the  Christian 
missionary,  and  begged  for  more  instruction  in  the 
truth  of  God,  represented  many  a  soul  that  instinc- 
tively feels  that  in  that  sermon  there  is  a  higher 
element  than  human  wisdom.  "  Sweetness  and 
light "  appear  nowhere  as  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus. 
It  has  a  calm,  bright  air,  like  the  light  of  a  summer 
morning.  As  we  listen  to  Jesus,  we  seem  borne 
away  to  some  mountain  of  myrrh,  some  hill  of 
pomegranates.  As  His  words  fall  on  our  hearts, 
they  calm  our  excited  feelings  as  of  old  they  stilled 


HIS  WORK  AS  TEACHER.  133 

the  winds  and  the  waves.  His  lips  drop  as  the 
honeycomb.  We  say  with  Peter,  "  Lord,  to  whom 
shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 
It  is  this  blessed  teaching  that  the  Church  is 
called  to  spread  over  the  world,  in  the  very  spirit  of 
Christ  Himself.  Like  the  silvery  rays  of  the  sun, 
brightening  and  gladdening  hill  and  vale  after  a 
night  of  storm,  or  like  the  fresh  sweet  beauty  of 
spring  after  the  gloom  and  hard  grip  of  winter, — 
such  is  the  teaching  of  Christ,  let  it  follow  what 
system  it  may. 

"As  dew  upon  the  tender  herb, 

Diffusing  fragrance  round ; 
As  showers  that  usher  in  the  spring, 

And  cheer  the  thirsty  ground  : 
So  shall  His  presence  bless  our  souls, 

And  shed  a  joyful  light ; 
That  hallowed  mom  shall  chase  away 

The  sorrows  of  the  night." 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

•  ELEMENTS   OF  IMPRESSION   IN   HIS   TEACHING. 
I.   INTERNAL. 

From  the  substance  of  our  Lord's  teaching  we 
proceed  to  its  form  and  manner.  It  may  be  ad- 
mitted that  we  come  down  here  to  a  lower  level. 
The  substance  of  truth  is  unchangeable ;  the  form 
and  manner  are  susceptible  of  a  thousand  variations. 

But  though  we  come  to  a  lower  level,  it  is  not  an 
unimportant  one.  Most  certainly  our  Lord  was  not 
among  those  that  think  little  of  form  and  manner. 
Neither  directly  nor  indirectly  did  He  ever  convey 
the  notion  that  if  only  you  proclaim  the  truth  of 
God,  it  matters  not  how  you  do  it.  His  own  maxim, 
when  He  ordered  the  fragments  to  be  gathered 
together,  "  that  nothing  be  lost,"  demanded  that  care 
should  be  taken  of  every  fragment  of  influence  that 
could  tell  on  the  mind  of  man.  "While  He  looked 
mainly  to  the  essential  weight  and  force  of  the  truth 
itself  for  moving  the  soul,  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
for  the  vitalising  power,  He  neglected  no  subsi- 
diary means  of  impression,  however  feeble  it  might 
appear. 

In  this  He  only  followed  the  analogy  of  nature 
and  of  art.     The  most  impressive  paintings  do  not 

134 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  *      135 

owe  all  their  power  to  the  principal  figures  or 
features  where  the  main  conception  of  the  painting 
lies;  the  background,  and  the  filling  up  of  the 
details,  and  the  care  and  finish  of  the  whole,  con- 
tribute their  elements  of  effect.  The  mosses  and 
lichens  of  the  forest  indicate  careful  and  beautiful 
workmanship  as  truly  as  the  majestic  oak,  and  con- 
tribute to  the  general  impression.  It  is  not  merely 
the  substance  of  our  Lord's  teaching  that  shows  the 
hand  of  a  master,  but  the  forms  into  which  He 
throws  it.  His  language,  His  style.  His  figures  of 
speech,  the  tone  and  manner  of  the  whole.  Nor  is 
anything  used  by  Him  for  stage  effect ;  all  is 
directed  to  the  production  of  impression.  His 
arrows  are  never  shot  to  show  His  skill  in  archery, 
but  that  they  may  stick  fast  in  the  hearts  of  His 
enemies.  His  figures  of  speech  are  not  designed  to 
dazzle,  but  to  commend  His  lesson  and  to  move  His 
audience.  It  is  very  instructive  to  study  these 
features  of  His  teaching.  It  may  appear  to  some 
a  heavy  burden  to  have  to  keep  so  many  things  in 
view  in  addressing  an  audience.  But  it  is  not  a 
mechanical  imitation  of  our  Lord's  method  that 
we  desire  to  see.  It  is  a  law  of  our  nature  that 
what  we  admire  we  unconsciously  imitate.  If  we 
carefully  study  our  Lord's  manner,  looking  with 
reverent  admiration  on  His  ways  of  putting  truth, 
and  of  adapting  it  to  the  avenues  of  the  heart, — the 
ways  that  lead  to  the  springs  of  action  in  men,  we 
shall  gradually  learn  to  follow  His  example,  and, 
with  God's  blessing,  our  work  will  become  better 
adapted  to  its  great  end. 

In  studying  those  elements  of  impression  which 


136      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

beloDg  generally  to  the  form  and  manner  of  our 
Lord's  teaching,  we  are  led  to  a  twofold  division, 
some  of  them  being  more  internal,  that  is,  connected 
with  the  state  or  working  of  His  own  spirit,  and 
others,  more  external,  connected  with  the  structure 
of  His  discourses.  This  division  may  be  adopted 
for  convenience'  sake,  although  in  practice  the  two 
classes  of  qualities  blend  together,  like  colours  that 
shade  into  each  other,  and  cannot  be  thoroughly 
separated. 

I.   INTERNAL. 

1.  What  we  have  just  said  is  specially  true  of  the 
first  feature  we  mention — the  singular  lucidity  that 
marks  our  Lord's  teaching.  In  one  sense  lucidity 
is  a  structural  feature,  but  it  can  be  so  only  when 
there  is  a  remarkable  clearness  in  the  speaker's 
mind.  Generally,  it  is  those  who  have  most 
thorough  knowledge  of  a  subject,  and  most  mastery 
over  it,  both  in  its  principles  and  details,  that  are 
able  to  expound  it  most  simply  and  clearly.  A 
smatterer  is  seldom  lucid.  The  utter  absence  of 
mist  or  haze  about  our  Lord's  teaching,  even  on  the 
most  vital  topics,  must  strike  every  reader.  He 
held  truth  with  so  firm  a  grasp,  His  view  of  it  was 
so  comprehensive,  that  He  could  at  once  seize  the 
kernel,  and  hold  it  up,  distinct  and  obvious,  to  the 
eye  of  His  hearer.  As  He  said  to  Nicodemus,  "  We 
speak  that  we  do  know,  and  testify  that  we  have 
seen."  J'or  the  most  part  His  teaching  is  so 
luminous  that  there  is  hardly  a  possibility  of  mis- 
understanding it.  The  only  parts  where  there  is 
any  obscurity  are  certain  of  the  parables,  and  some 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  1 3  7 

of  the  earlier  discourses  in  the  Gospel  of  John. 
But  one  purpose  designed  to  be  accomplished  by 
the  parables  (as  we  shall  see  hereafter)  was  to  throw 
a  veil  over  the  truth,  so  that,  whilst  discoverable  in 
all  its  richness  by  the  honest  and  diligent  inquirer, 
it  should  not  be  apparent  to  careless  onlookers. 
And  in  regard  to  the  discourses  in  John,  bearing  as 
some  of  them  do  on  the  relations  of  the  Son  to  the 
Father,  the  subject  itself  is  obscure,  and  incapable 
of  being  made  perfectly  clear  to  the  human  mind. 
But,  even  in  these  profound  regions,  Jesus  does  not 
betray  a  trace  of  perplexity,  or  speak  as  if  He  found 
the  subject  too  difficult.  On  the  contrary,  we  can- 
not fail  to  admire  His  firmness  of  tread  and  ease  of 
movement,  even  in  regions  where  to  us  the  light 
appears  so  dim. 

Luminousness  in  any  teacher  has  the  double 
benefit  of  making  the  subject  plain  to  the  scholar, 
and  inspiring  confidence  in  the  teacher.  The 
luminousness  of  Christ's  teaching  inspires  the  fullest 
confidence;  we  feel  assured  that  He  is  perfectly 
able  to  unfold  to  us  the  mysteries  of  the  King- 
dom of  God. 

To  such  a  degree  of  lucidity  as  characterised  the 
teaching  of  Christ  we  can  never  attain.  But  it  is 
useful  to  pursue  what  we  can  never  come  up  to. 
Paul,  Peter,  and  John  are  all  luminous ;  but  they 
are  not  so  luminous  as  Christ.  If  we  would  teach 
well  we  must  learn  much.  If  we  would  know  our 
subject  thoroughly,  we  must  ponder  it  laboriously, 
and  in  profound  dependence  upon  that  Spirit  whose 
function  is  to  guide  us  into  all  the  truth.  Paul 
unfolds  to  us  very  frankly  the  secret  of  the  lucidity 


138      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

to  which  he  had  attained  :  "  As  it  is  written,  Things 
which  eye  saw  not,  and  ear  heard  not,  and  which 
entered  not  into  the  heart  of  man,  whatsoever  things 
God  prepared  for  them  that  love  him.  But  unto  us 
God  revealed  them  through  the  Spirit :  for  the  Spirit 
searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God. 
For  who  among  men  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man, 
save  the  spirit  of  the  man,  which  is  in  him?  even 
so  the  things  of  God  none  knoweth,  save  the  Spirit 
of  God.  But  we  received,  not  the  spirit  of  the 
world,  but  the  spirit  which  is  of  God ;  that  we  might 
l^now  the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us  by 
God"(l  Cor.  ii.  9-12,  r. v.). 

2.  Allied  to  the  feature  we  have  just  dwelt  on  is 
our  Lord's  profound  'personal  conviction  of  the  reality 
and  importance  of  all  He  taught. 

A  teacher  might  be  able  to  present  a  truth  in  a 
flood  of  light,  but  his  own  heart  not  being  saturated 
with  it,  he  might  do  so  without  any  living  sense  of 
its  value.  In  the  case  of  Jesus,  every  solenm  truth 
He  taught  had  a  profound  hold  of  His  own  heart, 
and  came  from  Him  glowing  with  the  warmth  of 
His  own  convictions.  Truth,  in  such  cases,  borrows 
from  the  emotions  a  great  rousing  power,  making  it 
thrill  the  hearts  of  hearers  by  a  kind  of  magical 
spell.  In  His  frequent  use  of  the  formula,  "  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  thee,"  we  have  a  proof  of  the 
intensity  of  our  Lord's  convictions.  "  Verily,  verily, 
I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  "Verily,  I  say 
unto  you,  Thou  shalt  in  no  wise  come  out  thence  till 
thou  hast  paid  the  uttermost  farthing."  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on  me  hath 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS,  139 

everlasting  life."  As  Jesus  uttered  such  truths,  His 
voice  would  borrow  from  His  heart  the  tones  of 
reality,  and  a  corresponding  impression  would  be 
made  on  the  hearts  of  hearers.  Such  utterances 
were  parts,  as  it  were,  of  His  very  self ;  they  were 
truths  of  whose  reality  He  had  the  deepest  assur- 
ance, and  which,  therefore,  He  sought  with  His 
whole  soul  to  press  on  the  hearts  of  all. 

No  element  of  impression  can  be  more  valuable 
than  this.  "We  believe,  and  therefore  speak" — 
denotes  the  secret  of  the  influence  of  soul  upon 
soul.  Tlie  doubting  mind  can  never  be  influential 
except  in  the  way  of  kindling  doubt.  It  is  im- 
possible with  "truths  men  half  believe"  to  heal 
the  "  woes  they  wholly  feel."  No  position  can  be 
more  uncomfortable  than  that  of  one  who  is  com- 
mitted to  teach,  as  great  Divine  verities,  what 
he  neither  can  wholly  receive  nor  wholly  reject. 
Obliged  to  put  aside  the  great  doctrines  of  the  evan- 
gelical creed  as  matters  about  which  he  is  not  so 
sure  as  to  be  able  to  commit  himself  to  them,  he 
will  be  left  with  little  more  than  the  truths  of 
natural  religion,  or  the  principles  of  natural  morality. 
Even  about  these,  perhaps,  he  may  find  some  un- 
certainty, for  doubt  like  a  cancer  is  ever  spreading ; 
but  should  he  believe  that  here  he  has  solid  ground 
beneath  him,  the  case  is  not  much  better;  for  if 
this  be  all  his  gospel,  he  cannot  call  himself  a 
minister  of  Christ's,  and  most  certainly  he  cannot 
look  for  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  bless  his 
words,  since  he  cannot  make  up  his  mind  whether 
there  be  any  Holy  Ghost.  No  power  wielded  by 
such  a  man  can  avail  to  destroy  the  works  of  the 


140      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

devil.  What  is  needed  by  such  a  worker,  if  he  really 
desires  to  be  a  minister  of  Christ's,  is  the  teaching  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  apostles  and  the  early  Church 
had  no  want  of  certainty  after  the  Spirit  came  down 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost ;  and  all  in  every  age,  who 
are  truly  taught  of  God,  "know  the  certainty  of 
those  things  wherein  they  have  been  instructed." 

The  more  that  our  souls  are  saturated  with  what 
we  teach,  the  greater  will  be  our  power.  The  voice 
will  take  its  tone  from  the  heart.  The  truth  will 
pass,  not  through  dead  wires,  but  living  nerves. 
The  hearer's  heart  seems  to  be  proof  against  the 
most  solemn  truths  spoken  with  indifference,  or  in 
a  tone  which  is  not  in  keeping  with  their  import. 
But  the  very  same  truths  spoken  from  the  heart 
go  straight  to  the  heart.  The  Holy  Ghost  makes 
great  use  of  the  sincerity  which  He  inspires.  It  is 
vain  to  ape  the  tone  of  genuine  feeling.  Divine 
power  never  accompanies  the  work  of  apes.  The 
soul  that  thrills  with  the  truths  it  proclaims  is  the 
favourite  instrument  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  moves 
and  melts  the  soul  of  the  hearer ;  carrying  with  it 
the  power  of  heaven,  it  does  the  work  of  God. 

3.  In  connection  with  our  Lord's  depth  of  con- 
viction, we  must  view  His  habit  of  jprayerfulness. 
It  is  to  be  carefully  observed  that  even  He  found 
the  avocations  of  ministerial  and  missionary  work 
distracting, — liable,  unless  counteracted,  to  impair 
vividness  of  impression,  to  diminish  spiritual 
strength,  and  lower  spiritual  aspirations.  It  was  to 
overcome  these  tendencies,  to  keep  all  fresh  and 
bright  within,  that  He  prayed  so  often  and  so 
much.      Solitude    and   renewed   communion   with 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  141 

His  Father  in  heaven  were  needed  to  restore  and 
sustain  the  tone  of  His  spirit ;  for  even  in  the 
human  heart  of  Jesus,  the  constant  iteration  of  the 
noblest  acts  had  something  of  an  exhaustive  effect, 
and  it  needed  direct  communion  with  the  upper 
fountains  to  revive  His  soul. 

It  is  when  we  study  the  Gospel  according  to 
Luke  that  we  learn  most  thoroughly  how  full  of 
prayer  the  life  and  ministry  of  our  Saviour  were. 
First,  we  find  Him  praying  at  His  baptism,  when 
the  heaven  was  opened,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  de- 
scended on  Him  like  a  dove  (Luke  iii.  21).  Then, 
after  the  cure  of  the  leper,  when  the  multitude 
thronged  Him,  "He  withdrew  himself  into  the 
wilderness  and  prayed"  (v.  16).  Before  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  twelve  apostles  He  went  out 
into  a  mountain  to  pray,  and  continued  aU  night  in 
prayer  to  God  (vi.  12,  13).  At  the  miracle  of  the 
loaves  and  fishes.  He  looks  up  to  heaven,  and  blesses 
them  ere  He  gives  them  to  the  multitude  (Luke 
ix.  1 6).  It  is  as  He  is  alone  praying  that  He  is 
joined  by  the  disciples,  and  that  He  asks  them, 
"Whom  do  men  say  that  I  am?"  (Luke  ix.  18.) 
Luke  tells  us  that  His  object  in  going  up  the  mount 
of  transfiguration  was  to  pray,  and  that  it  was  as 
He  prayed  that  the  fashion  of  His  countenance  was 
altered,  and  His  raiment  was  white  and  glistering 
(ix.  28,  29).  In  sending  forth  the  seventy  disciples 
our  Lord  prefaced  His  charge  to  them  by  an  injunc- 
tion to  pray  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  He  would 
send  forth  labourers  into  His  harvest  (Luke  x.  2). 
Luke  tells  us  that  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  given, 
though  not  apparently  for  the  first  time,  in  answer 


142      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

to  a  request  of  one  of  His  disciples  that  He  would 
teach  them  to  pray  (xi.  1),  and  He  records  the 
parables  that  were  designed  to  show  the  power  of 
prayer, — that  of  the  stranger  coming  at  midnight 
(xi.  5),  and  that  of  the  importunate  widow  (xviii.  3). 
It  is  from  Luke  that  we  learn  that  at  Gethsemane 
our  Lord  bade  the  three  brethren  pray  before  the 
trial  began  (xxii.  40),  as  well  as  at  its  close  (xxii.  46). 
Luke  records  also  the  prayer  for  Peter :  "  I  have 
prayed  for  thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not "  (xxii.  32)  ; 
and  the  prayer  for  His  murderers,  "  Father,  forgive 
them,  they  know  not  what  they  do "  (xxiii.  34). 
From  Luke,  in  fine,  we  learn  that  the  dying  word 
of  Jesus  was  in  prayer :  "  Father,  into  thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit."  Having  said  thus,  He 
gave  up  the  ghost. 

The  lesson  is  too  obvious  to  need  to  be  more  than 
stated.  Whatever  doubts  men  may  throw  on  the 
efficacy  of  prayer,  these  doubts  certainly  get  no 
shadow  of  countenance  from  the  example  of  our  Lord. 
And  little  can  the  ministry  of  any  man  be  trusted 
where  there  is  little  or  no  occasion  for  prayer, 
and  little  or  nothing  to  say  when  he  goes  to  the 
throne  of  grace.  In  our  case,  over  and  above  the 
reasons  that  were  applicable  to  our  Lord,  there  is 
the  whole  of  that  personal  experience  to  be  spread 
before  God  which  has  to  do  with  our  sins, — the 
guilt  we  incur,  the  defilement  we  contract,  the  dis- 
order and  confusion  it  breeds  in  our  souls;  the 
frequency  with  which  we  grieve  the  Spirit,  and 
thereby  interrupt  the  current  of  Divine  influence ; 
our  feebleness  in  service,  our  neglect  of  opportuni- 
ties, our   carelessness  about  our  Master's  honour* 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  143 

And  can  it  be  that  we  need  less  than  Jesus  to  have 
our  spiritual  impressions  and  aspirations  revived  by 
fellowship  with  God  ?  Do  our  weapons  need  less 
whetting  than  His  ?  Do  our  spirits  contract  less 
rust  from  the  atmosphere  of  the  world?  Do  we 
need  less  than  He  to  bring  our  views  and  aims  to 
the  standard  of  the  Divine  will,  and  have  them 
rectified  and  elevated  by  the  presence  of  God  ?  If 
even  His  lamp  needed  to  be  constantly  trimmed  and 
supplied  anew  with  the  oil  of  heaven,  how  much 
more  does  ours,  which  even  at  best  burns  so  dimly, 
and  which  is  so  liable  to  be  extinguished  by  the 
breath  of  temptation,  or  through  our  carelessness  in 
times  of  carnal  ease  ! 

4.  A  not  less  striking  element  of  impression  in 
the  state  of  our  Lord's  spirit  was  His  usually  hright, 
cheerful,  and  genial  tone.  To  appreciate  this,  we 
must  guard  against  a  prejudice  arising  from  our 
notions  of  what  was  necessary  for  the  great  work  of 
atonement  for  which  He  came  into  the  world.  From 
the  fact  that,  as  the  Sin-bearer,  He  had  to  carry  an 
awful  burden ;  from  His  being  called^  by  Isaiah 
"  the  man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief ; " 
and  likewise  from  the  fact  that  in  some  of  the 
darkest  of  the  Psalms,  revealing  His  experience,  there 
are  expressions  of  terrible  distress,  many  have  in- 
ferred that  His  countenance  must  have  been  always 
overcast,  and  His  tone  habitually  sad.  But  this  is 
not  what  we  gather  from  the  Gospels.  On  the  con- 
trary, Jesus  is  seen  there  encompassed  for  the  most 
part  by  an  air  of  cheerfulness  and  gladness.  Wit- 
ness the  opening  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It 
begins  with  pouiing   out    quite   a  cornucopia    of 


144      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEAOHING. 

beatitudes.  It  is  not  from  a  heart  habitually  sad 
that  such  silvery  streams  can  have  their  flow.  It  is 
not  the  distressed  soul  that  likes  to  think  of  the 
fowls  of  the  air,  whose  wants  are  always  provided 
for,  though  "  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap  ; " 
nor  of  the  lilies  of  the  field,  "  that  toil  not,  neither 
do  they  spin,  and  yet  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory, 
was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these."  Even  when  our 
Lord  makes  mention  of  "  the  grass  of  the  field,  which 
to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,"  it  is 
not  to  press  what  you  might  suppose  was  the  more 
natural  lesson — the  gloomy  lesson  of  decay, — it  is  to 
draw  even  from  that  emblem  a  cheerful  thought,  a 
lesson  of  trust  in  Him  who,  as  He  makes  provision 
for  clothing  the  short-lived  grass,  will  surely  "  clothe 
you,  0  ye  of  little  faith."  There  is  nothing  more 
characteristic  of  a  buoyant,  joyous  heart,  than  that 
spirit  of  trust  in  God  which  refuses  to  let  the  shadow 
of  possible  evil  in  the  future  come  between  it  and 
the  sunshine  of  the  present,  accepting  gladly  every 
present  comfort  and  mercy,  and  believing  that  "suf- 
ficient unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof." 

The  same*  spirit  was  shown  by  Christ  in  His  usual 
intercourse  with  the  disciples.  He  did  not  desire 
them  to  be  fasting  before  God  in  His  providence 
should  call  them  to  fast.  He  would  rather  let  them 
enjoy  their  summer  day, — enjoy  the  bridal  festivities 
while  the  Bridegroom  was  with  them ;  soon  enough 
for  them  would  come  the  day  when  the  Bridegroom 
should  be  taken  away,  and  they  would  certainly 
have  to  fast  in  those  days.  Was  it  not  a  proof  of 
the  habitual  gladness  of  Christ's  tone  that  He  went 
about  continually  doing  good  ?     A  heart  full  of  sad- 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  145 

ness  would  go  about  weeping  with  those  that  weep, 
lamenting  life's  inevitable  sorrows,  and  bidding  them 
bear  calmly  what  they  could  not  remove.  But 
Christ  goes  about  removing  troubles,  drying  up 
tears,  bringing  bread  to  the  hungry,  water  to  the 
thirsty,  rest  to  the  weary,  life  to  the  dead.  His 
words  to  the  widow  of  Nain,  "  Weep  not,"  to  Mary 
Magdalene,  "  Why  weepest  thou  ?"  are  not  like  the 
w^ords  of  one  who  would  have  turned  human  life 
into  a  vale  of  tears,  knd  made  the  wail  of  sorrow  its 
only  music.  It  is  evident  that  on  the  very  eve  of 
His  sufferings  He  enjoyed  the  glee  and  gladness  of 
the  children  crying  in  the  temple,  "  Hosanna  to  the 
Son  of  David,"  and  showed  by  His  quotation  from 
the  8th  Psalm  that  He  deemed  no  praise  more 
delightful  than  that  which  is  borne  aloft  on  the 
merry  voices  of  infants.  His  habitual  tone  har- 
monised with  that  gladness  which  is  at  once  ascribed 
to  Him,  and  accounted  for  in  the  45th  Psalm — 
"  Thou  lovest  righteousness  and  hatest  wickedness ; 
therefore  God,  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee  with  the 
oil  of  gladness  ctbove  thy  felloivs" 

Nor  need  we  find  any  insuperable  difficulty  in 
reconciling  this,  the  habitual  spirit  of  Christ,  with 
His  position  as  the  sin-bearer,  and  His  experience 
from  time  to  time  of  very  terrible  and  crushing  dis- 
tress. Of  these  dreadful  visitations  of  soul-sorrow 
we  have  a  memorable  instance  in  the  experience  of 
Gethsemane,  when  His  soul  writhed  under  agonies 
that  could  hardly  be  borne.  But  who  does  not  see 
that  Gethsemane  was  a  great  contrast  to  Christ's 
ordinary  mood,  showing  that  while  doubtless  His 
relation  to  man's  sin  and  punishment  could  not  fail 

K 


146      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPKESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

to  make  itself  felt  in  some  degree  habitually,  still 
tlie  more  extreme  experiences  of  that  relation  would 
come  on  Him  in  the  form  of  sharp  paroxysms 
that  apparently  were  short  in  proportion  to  their 
intensity. 

It  needs  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  both  physically 
and  spiritually  man  is  formed  for  light,  not  dark- 
ness. Literal  darkness,  even  for  a  few  days,  is  so 
terrible  a  punishment  that  where  it  has  been  tried 
on  criminals  it  has  been  like  to  drive  them  mad. 
Spiritual  darkness  and  desolation  of  soul  are  as  little 
favourable  to  its  health  and  prosperity  as  literal 
darkness  is  to  the  body.  It  cannot  be  God's  inten- 
tion for  any  of  His  children  that  their  minds  should 
ever  dwell  in  darkness,  or  be  perpetually  occupied 
with  awful  thoughts.  Even  under  our  most  crush- 
ing earthly  sorrows,  our  hearts,  through  the  healing 
influence  of  time,  usually  regain  a  measure  of 
serenity  and  cheerfulness.  It  is  the  voice  of  rejoicing 
and  salvation  that  ought  to  be  heard  in  the  taber- 
nacles of  the  righteous.  Men  say  that  we  cannot 
be  sincere  in  what  we  profess  to  believe  regarding 
the  lost  state  of  men  by  nature,  and  their  prospects 
of  everlasting  punishment,  for  if  we  really  believed 
it,  our  hearts  would  be  oppressed  by  a  perpetual 
horror.  But  from  their  very  constitution  our  hearts 
are  not  capable  of  dwelling  constantly  on  the  doom 
of  sin.  It  is  to  be  thought  of,  thought  of  profoundly 
and  awfully,  thought  of  repeatedly,  but  not  thought 
of  always.  If  it  were  ever  before  our  minds,  we 
should  be  immersed  in  unbearable  darkness.  "  Light 
is  sown  for  the  righteous,  and  gladness  for  the  upright 
in  heart."     While  bearing  in  mind  the  doom  of  the 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  147 

lost,  and  not  trying  to  stifle  the  anguish  that  thrills 
us  when  the  thought  becomes  vivid,  we  are  to 
endeavour  at  the  same  time,  as  our  habitual  tone,  to 
cherish  the  bright  counsel  of  the  Apostle  :  "  Eejoice 
evermore,"  • 

Thus  we  may  come  in  some  degree  to  understand 
how  Jesus,  while  carrying  on  His  shoulders  the 
terrible  burden  of  His  people's  sin,  and  experiencing 
at  times  such  paroxysms  of  soul-horror,  should  for 
the  most  part  have  maintained  so  bright,  cheerful, 
and  happy  a  tone.  This  radiance  of  spirit  must  have 
liad  a  wonderful  attraction  for  the  disciples,  and 
served  to  make  their  intercourse  a  time  of  great 
delight.  We  do  not  need  to  accept  all  that  Eenan 
has  written  on  the  charming  manner  of  the  young 
Galilean.  As  an  explanation  of  Christ's  influence 
over  the  disciples  it  is  inadequate,  and  Kenan's  way 
of  referring  to  it  is  flippant  and  unbecoming.  No 
charm  of  manner  could  account  for  that  profound 
reverence  for  Christ,  that  sense  of  obligation  to  Him, 
and  that  readiness  to  live  and  to  die  for  Him,  which 
from  the  first  filled  the  souls  of  thousands.  But, 
doubtless,  the  presence  of  Christ  was  a  sunny  pre- 
sence, and  brought  daylight  and  fresh  air  into  the 
little  company.  His  ordinary  words  were  cheering 
words,  giving  joy  to  the  sad  and  bringing  hope  to 
the  hopeless.  The  incident  of  the  storm  at  sea, 
when  Jesus  came  into  the  ship  and  all  traces  of  the 
storm  vanished,  was  at  once  a  fact  and  a  symbol — 
a  symbol  of  the  blessed  influence  of  His  presence  in 
times  of  darkness  and  danger.  What  a  character- 
istic salutation  it  was  with  which  He  greeted  the 
eleven  on  the  evening  of  His  resurrection  :  "  Peace 


148      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

be  unto   you  1"     It   was   like   a   sunbeam  passing 
through  the  gloom  of  death. 

So,  likewise,  when  we  study  the  written  page  of 
Christ's  life  we  find  it  wonderfully  cheering  to  faith. 
Compare  the  Gospels  with  Job,  or  Jeremiah,  or 
Hosea,  how  different  is  the  atmosphere  !  In  Job 
the  whole  firmament  is  dark,  but  a  ray  of  light 
breaks  now  and  again  through  the  gloom.  In  the 
Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  you  hardly  discover  so 
much  as  one  ray.  But  in  the  Gospels  the  sky  is 
comparatively  clear.  It  is  not  the  prevailing  lesson 
of  the  Gospels  as  it  is  in  Job  that  man  is  born  unto 
trouble  as  the  sparks  fly  upward.  It  is  not  the 
prevailing  cry  of  the  Gospels  as  it  is  in  the  Lamenta- 
tions, that  "  the  joy  of  our  heart  is  ceased  ;  our  dance 
is  turned  into  mourning."  The  aspect  of  life  set 
before  us  in  the  Gospels  is  not  that  of  disappoint- 
ment, vexation,  and  despair,  but  that  of  hope,  suc- 
cess, enjoyment.  The  poor  in  spirit,  the  mourners, 
the'  meek,  and  the  other  classes  portrayed  in  the 
beatitudes  get  what  they  crave  and  need.  The  man 
seeking  goodly  pearls  finds  the  pearl  of  great  price. 
The  man  who  finds  treasure  in  a  field  becomes  the 
owner  of  the  field.  The  woman  finds  her  lost  piece 
of  silver.  The  shepherd  recovers  his  lost  sheep. 
The  father  clasps  to  his  bosom  his  prodigal  son. 

Even  when  the  topics  are  the  darkest  possible, 
our  Lord's  treatment  of  them  does  not  want  brighter 
elements.  The  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Matthew 
is  a  forecast  of  terrible  events.  It  is  a  picture 
where  the  desolations  of  flood  and  fire,  of  deluge  and 
thunderstorm  and  earthquake  seem  combined.  It 
holds  out  but  a  sorry  earthly  prospect  for  the  Church 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  149 

— "then  shall  they  deliver  you  up  to  be  afflicted 
and  shall  kill  you,  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all 
nations  for  my  name's  sake;"  "then  shall  be  great 
tribulation,  such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of 
the  world  to  this  time,  nor  ever  shall  be."  Nor  are 
the  fortunes  of  the  world  at  laro^e  more  encouracjinoj : 
"Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of  those  days 
shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not 
give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven, 
and  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be  shaken." 
Yet  even  this  picture  does  not  want  re-assuring 
elements :  "  He  that  shall  endure  to  the  end,  the  same 
shall  be  saved" — comes  in  both  to  stimulate  the 
grace  of  endurance,  and  to  show  its  blessed  reward. 
And  then,  too,  comes  the  grand  consummation; 
when  the  storm  is  at  its  wildest,  and  confusion 
worst  confounded,  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  is 
seen  in  the  heavens.  In  the  presence  of  the  King, 
commotion  ceases,  as  on  the  lake  the  winds  and 
waves  fell  at  His  word.  From  Him  that  sitteth  on 
the  throne  there  comes  forth  a  new-creative  word : 
"Behold,  I  make  all  things  new."  And  yet  the 
doom  of  sin  is  not  overlooked ;  for  the  careless  ser- 
vant has  his  portion  with  the  hypocrites;  "there 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth." 

So  also  in  the  farewell  discourse ;  it  abounds  with 
apples  of  gold.  The  slvy  is  dark  enough.  Terrible 
mental  trials  and  frightful  physical  sufferings  hang 
over  our  blessed  Lord.  The  disciples  are  to  be 
parted  from  Him  who  has  been  their  light  and  joy. 
They  are  to  be  plunged  into  all  the  troubles  and 
terrors  of  a  conflict  with  the  world  and  the  devil. 
Yet  amid  all  this  darkness,  cheerfulness  prevails. 


150      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

"  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled  "  is  the  key-note  of 
the  whole.  It  is  full  of  reassuring  and  comforting 
words.  It  is  the  presence  of  these  two  features, 
calmness  and  consolation,  but  especially  the  predomi- 
nance of  the  last,  that  constitutes  the  great  charm 
of  this  discourse.  It  is  this  that  has  made  it  for 
the  mourning  Christian  a  fountain  of  comfort  in  all 
generations.  Strange  that  in  our  darkest  hours, 
when  we  most  crave  brightness,  we  turn  to  words 
uttered  by  Jesus  in  the  very  hour  and  apparent 
triumph  of  darkness !  How  wonderful  must  have 
been  the  quality  of  the  heart  that  could  be  radiant 
and  cheerful  amid  the  thickening  elements  of  such 
a  storm !  How  profound  the  sympathy  that,  with 
all  its  own  unspeakable  load  to  bear,  could  pour  out 
words  so  fitted  to  cheer  the  miserable  in  every  age ! 
All  this  may  surely  show  us  how  earnestly  a 
radiant  cheerful  spirit  should  be  cultivated  by  all 
Christ's  servants.  We  may  think  that  if  men  see 
us  habitually  sad  and  woebegone  on  account  of  their 
sins,  the  sight  will  bring  them  to  themselves — they 
will  be  touched  by  the  thought  of  the  misery  they 
are  causing  us.  But  experience  does  not  conjfirm 
this  view.  In  the  home  of  the  drunkard,  it  is  not 
the  wife  utterly  crushed  and  broken-hearted,  who 
drags  herself  through  her  work  in  heartless  prostra- 
tion, that  is  likely  to  touch  her  husband's  conscience; 
but  rather  the  noble  woman  who  keeps  a  buoyant 
heart  amid  all  her  discouragements,  and  while 
"  much  in  sorrow,  oft  in  Avoe,"  tries  as  far  as  possible 
to  conceal  the  tokens  of  it  from  him  who  is  the 
cause  of  it  all.  He  is  more  likely  to  be  brought 
to  himself  by  hopefulness  and  self-command  than 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  151 

by  despair.  So  in  the  Cliristian  ministry,  while 
our  appeals  must  sometimes  be  bathed  in  tears,  it 
is  not  sadness  but  gladness  that  should  be  our  habi- 
tual tone.  The  tears,  from  their  very  rarity,  may 
have  a  remarkable  effect.  Paul  could  remind  the 
Ephesian  elders  that  for  two  years  he  had  not 
ceased  to  warn  them  day  and  night  with  tears ;  yet 
none  of  his  epistles  is  more  sunny,  more  full  of 
thankfulness  and  of  bright  views  of  the  riches  of 
God's  grace  and  love  than  the  epistle  to  that  very 
church.  A  countenance  habitually  depressed  and  a 
funereal  tone  ill  become  the  ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion.    The  gospel  message  is  glad  tidings  of  great 

joy- 

5.  We  have  yet  to  speak  of  one  of  the  most 
powerful  of  the  internal  elements  of  impression  in 
our  Lord's  teaching — the  harmony  of  His  life  ivith 
His  lessons.  His  life  and  example  lent  force  to 
His  precepts  even  in  regard  to  the  highest  and  most 
difficult  of  the  attainments  that  He  ever  urged.  If 
He  spoke  of  the  blessedness  of  the  poor  in  spirit,  the 
meek,  the  peacemakers,  the  pure  in  heart.  He  Him- 
self beautifully  exemplified  all.  If  He  urged  trust 
in  the  heavenly  Father,  the  absence  of  all  care,  of 
all  dread  of  want  while' you  are  doing  your  Father's 
will, — His  life  was  a  perfect  picture  of  this  spirit. 
If  He  taught  men  not  to  fear  them  that  killed  the 
body.  He  himself  was  utterly  regardless  of  all  that 
man  could  do  to  Him.  If  He  exhorted  them  to  set 
their  hearts  not  on  earthly  but  heavenly  treasure, 
the  world  and  all  its  riches  were  literally  nothing  to 
Him.  Thus  His  life  was  as  clear  and  consistent  a 
sermon  as  His  words.     He  had  no  fear  of  any  tu 


152      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

quoque  when  He  hurled  His  charges  against  the 
scribes  and  pharisees,  of  binding  heavy  burdens  and 
laying  them  on  men's  shoulders,  while  they  them- 
selves would  not  touch  them  with  one  of  their 
fingers.  If  men  should  say  that  His  standard  was 
too  high,  His  own  life  might  be  ajppealed  to,  to 
refute  the  charge.  From  infancy  to  the  cross  it 
showed  no  flaw,  and  all  through,  it  might  have  been 
described  in  the  words  spoken  to  the  Baptist :  "  It 
becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness."  ^ 

Alas,  it  is  hard  to  calculate  the  amount  of  harm 
that  is  done  through  the  want  of  harmony  between 
our  preaching  and  our   lives!     And   it  is  not  of 

^  In  dwelling  on  this  topic  in  his  Practical  Theology,  Van 
Oosterzee  is  not  content  with  noting  the  harmony  between  onr 
Lord's  teaching  and  His  life.  He  notes  a  sevenfold  harmony 
which,  somewhat  fancifully,  he  compares  to  the  seven  prismatic 
colours,  blending  in  a  perfect  ray  of  light.  1.  The  first  is  the 
harmony  of  His  teaching  with  His  person  ;  Ht  speaks  like  the 
only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  authority,  full  of  grace  and 
truth.  2.  His  teaching  is  in  harmony  with  the  Scriptures — 
not  with  traditions,  like  the  teaching  of  the  Scribes  ;  not  with 
the  mere  letter  of  Scripture  (although  it  agrees  with  that  too, 
as,  for  example.  His  prophecy  of  the  resurrection  roots  itself 
in  Scripture  facts  and  language),  but  emphatically  with  the 
soul  and  spirit  of  Scripture.  3.  With  the  deepest  ivants  of  His 
hearers.  *'  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life."  4.  With  the  demands  of  the  moment.  His  words 
are  not  abstract  words,  but  words  expressly  adapted  for  the 
time,  therefore  for  all  time.  They  bear  the  stamp  of  real  life. 
5.  His  word  is  in  harmony  icith  itself.  Amid  aj)parent  diversity, 
His  word  is  pervaded  by  a  higher  unity.  He  develops  it  more 
at  one  time  than  another,  but  it  is  always  the  same  truth  unto 
salvation.  6.  With  His  walh.  His  sublimest  precepts  are  at  once 
exemplified  and  enforced  by  His  faultless  example  ;  His  life  is 
one  continued  preaching  ;  His  preaching  is  not  doctrine  merely, 
but  life.  7.  In  harmony  with  the  Father,  whose  face  He  often 
seeks  in  prayer,  and  before  whom  He  could  testify  at  the  end 
that  He  had  revealed  and  glorified  the  Father's  name  upon 
ea,\'t\i.''— {Practical  Theolofjy,  pp.  72-74.) 


INTERNAL  ELEMENTS.  153 

ministers  ouly  that  this  is  to  be  said.    Inconsistency 
between  practice  and  profession  is  like  dry  rot  in 
the  Church,  and  neutralises  fearfully  any  influence 
for  good.     Abroad,  at  home,  in  colonies,  in  India, 
China,  Japan,  we  hear  the  monotonous  but  pain- 
ful tale  of  men  and  women  calling  themselves  by 
the   name    of  Christ,  but   not   walking  worthy  of 
the  vocation  wherewith  they  are  called.     It  is  the 
ready  excuse  that  young  persons  offer  for  trifling 
with   the  voice  of  conscience,  that   they   are   but 
doing  as  others  do.     It  is  the  palliation  of  their 
declension  that  backsliders  are  always  giving  us, 
they  were  in  contact  with  men  or  women  bearing 
Christ's  name,  but  certainly  not  following  His  pre- 
cepts.    But  if  this   be  a  source  of  much  evil  in 
any,  it  is  a  source  of  superlative  evil  in  Christian 
ministers.     And  it  is  an  evil  for  which  there  can  be 
little  excuse.     It  does  not  spring  from  the  want  of 
rare  or  unattainable  gifts.     It  springs  from  a  care- 
lessness in  common  things  for  which  there  is  little 
palliation.     Watchfulness    and    prayerfulness    will 
bring    about   a   thorough    harmony    between    our 
preaching  and  our  lives.     Nor  can  any  influence  be 
better  or  higher.     Sometimes  a  whole  country-side 
is  influenced  by  the  consistent  life  and  blameless 
spirit  of  a  hard-working,  affectionate,  self-denying 
minister,  whose  life  has  exhibited  no  visible  stain, 
and  whose  heart  has  never  been  known  to  refuse 
any  service  of  love  to  young  or  old,  rich  or  poor. 
Such  men  seem  to  combine  the  saintly  repose  of 
a  life   of   retirement   and  contemplation   with  the 
unwearied  beneficence  of  a  life  of  activity.     In  con- 
tact with  their  Master,  alike  in  the  closet  and  in  the 


154      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHlNa. 

field  of  duty,  they  have  caught  His  spirit  in  both, 
and  made  it  manifest  in  all  the  aspects  of  their  life. 
They  remind  us  of  the  legend  of  the  godly  monk, 
who  one  evening  was  meditating  on  his  Lord,  when 
lo  !  He  appeared  at  his  side.  It  was  an  hour  when 
the  monk's  duty  called  him  elsewhere.  Fain  would 
he  have  lingered  to  enjoy  his  Lord's  company ;  but 
the  claim  of  duty  seemed  to  come  before  everything 
else.  Returning  from  his  work,  he  found  his  Lord 
still  in  his  cell,  and  was  greeted  with  the  w^ords — 
"If  thou,  hadst  stayed,  I  had  gone;  because  thou 
didst  go,  I  have  stayed."  Delight  in  Christ's  com- 
pany makes  our  lives  consistent  and  our  labours 
fruitful.  "  And  of  Benjamin  he  said,  The  beloved 
of  the  Lord  shall  dwell  in  safety  by  him ;  and  the 
Lord  shall  cover  him  all  the  day  long,  and  he  shall 
dwell  between  his  shoulders  "  (Deut.  xxxiii.  1 2). 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ELEMENTS   OF   IMPRESSION   IN   HIS   TEACUING. 
II.   STKUGTUEAL. 

The  elements  of  impression  in  a  public  teacher  that 
depend  on  the  state  of  his  own  spirit  operate  un- 
consciously,— they  result  from  the  spontaneous 
activity  of  his  soul,  working  in  accordance  with  its 
strongest  impulses.  But  there  is  another  class  of 
influences,  in  the  application  of  which  there  is  more 
scope  for  deliberation  and  selection.  These  influences 
belong  to  the  structure  of  his  addresses,  and  are  con- 
nected with  the  kind  of  arguments  he  employs; 
the  use  he  makes  of  any  common  ground. there  may 
be  between  him  and  his  audience ;  the  means  he 
makes  use  of  to  arrest,  to  interest,  to  illustrate,  to 
apply ;  and  generally,  his  way  of  making  the  truths 
which  he  proclaims  effectual  for  the  great  ends  for 
which  they  are  proclaimed.  The  present  chapter  is 
devoted  to  an  exposition  of  some  elements  of  this 
kind  in  the  public  teaching  of  our  Lord. 

1.  And  first  in  this  class  we  note  His  appeals  to 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures, 

Perhaps  we  are  inclined  to  wonder  that  He  did 
not  make  more  use  of  Scripture  than  He  did.  In 
the  earlier  part  of  His  ministry  it  was  more  for  pur- 


156      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

poses  of  defence  than  of  direct  instruction  that  He 
appealed  to  the  Bible.  In  the  wilderness  He  used 
it  to  repel  the  temptations  of  the  devil ;  in  battling 
with  His  enemies  He  often  used  it  to  silence  them, 
as  when  He  appealed  to  the  example  of  David  to 
justify  His  views  of  the  Sabbath,  or  to  the  words 
spoken  to  Moses  at  the  burning  bush,  to  show  that 
there  was  a  resurrection  of  the  dead.  But  in  His 
earlier  ministry  we  have  little  account  in  the 
Gospels  of  work  done  by  Him  in  the  way  of  for- 
mally expounding  the  Scriptures.  One  memorable 
exception  there  is, — His  exposition  of  Isaiah  Ixi.  1 
in  the  Synagogue  of  Nazareth.  The  result  of  that 
exposition,  however,  did  not  show  a  people  pre- 
pared for  such  instruction,  and  did  not  encourage 
the  continuance  of  the  practice. 

But  from  the  beginning  our  Lord  made  plain  in 
many  ways  His  reverence  for  the  Scriptures  as  the 
record  of  God's  will  and  the  fountain-head  of  all 
saving  truth.  His  indignation  was  great  at  the 
public  instructors  of  the  people  for  making  the 
Word  of  God  of  none  effect  by  their  traditions.  It 
was  vain  to  suppose  that  even  one  rising  from  the 
dead  could  have  a  greater  effect  on  men  than  the 
Scriptures :  "  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  pro- 
phets, neither  will  they  be  persuaded  though  one 
rose  from  the  dead."  If  the  people  showed  great 
concern  about  outward  acts  of  worship,  joined  to 
great  aversion  of  heart  to  God,  it  was  just  as  Isaiah 
had  foretold.  In  the  days  when  disaster  was  to 
overtake  Jerusalem,  the  signal  for  leaving  the  place 
would  be  the  fulfilment  of  a  prophecy  by  Daniel, 
respecting  "  the  abomination  of  desolation."     Scrip- 


STRUCTURAL  ELEMENTS.  157 

tare  incidents  were  frequently  employed  to  embellish 
and  point  His  discourses.  The  men  of  Nineveh  re- 
penting at  the  preaching  of  Jonah ;  Jonah  himself 
being  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  belly  of  the 
fish ;  the  doom  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  ;  the  fathers 
eating  manna  in  the  desert ;  the  devil  a  murderer 
from  the  beginning, — are  samples  of  His  ready  and 
effective  use  of  Scripture  incidents.  But  that  He 
regarded  the  Bible  as  a  great  mine  of  Messianic 
truth  which  at  that  time  even  He  had  not  opened 
up  fully  in  His  discourses,  is  plain  from  His  words 
— "  Search  the  Scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  think  ye 
have  eternal  life,  and  it  is  they  that  testify  of  me." 

It  was  at  the  very  end  of  His  ministry,  and  in- 
deed after  His  resurrection,  that  He  began  in  ear- 
nest to  open  up  the  mine.  The  first  glimpse  of  its 
treasures  was  given  on  the  way  to  Emmaus,  when 
"beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  ex- 
pounded to  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things 
concerning  himself."  Afterwards,  when  the  disciples 
were  assembled.  He  opened  their  understandings 
that  they  might  understand  the  Scriptures.  And 
when  the  Comforter  came,  in  fulfilment  of  the  pro- 
mise, it  was  to  guide  them  into  all  the  truth.  So 
that,  before  they  were  called  to  go  forth  into  all 
the  world  as  witnesses  to  Him,  their  minds  were 
abundantly  stored  with  truth  drawn  from  the  great 
record  of  revelation, — the  Scriptures  given  by  in- 
spiration of  God. 

No  ministry  follows  the  model  of  Christ's  which 
does  not  make  both  authoritative  and  ample  use  of 
the  Word  of  God.  Authoritative,  we  say,  because 
we  do  not  come  up   to  our  Lord's  example  if  we 


158      ELEMENTS  OF  IxMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING, 

quote  the  Scriptures  merely  as  a  book  of  interesting 
incidents  or  striking  examples,  or  as  a  book  of  high 
tone  and  profound  moral  and  spiritual  insight.     "  If 
they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will 
they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 
Such  words  ascribe  to  the  Bible  a  force  quite  unique, 
an  authority  peculiar   and  unexampled.      And  as 
our  use  of  Scripture  should  be  authoritative,  so  it 
should  be  ample.     Its  incidents  are  very  varied.     Its 
characters  are  very  marked.     Its  range  of  teaching 
is  very  large.     Its  experiences  of  human  life  embrace 
all  varieties — from  the  lowest  depths  of  sorrow  and 
despair  to  the  loftiest  heights  of  joy  and   delight. 
Its  revelation  of  God  presents  Him  in  a  great  variety 
of  capacities  :  Father,   Judge,   Eedeemer,  Teacher, 
Guide,  and  Sanctifier.     The  forms  in  which  truth  is 
presented  in  the  Bible  are  very  numerous  :  history, 
biography,  proverb,  song,  prophecy,  parable,  didactic 
treatise,  familiar  letter,  apocalyptic  vision.     There 
is  no  excuse  for  our  not  making  our  discourses  full 
of  Scripture.     And  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  always 
demonstrating  its  authority.      The  impression  will 
not  be  less  powerful  if  there  underlie  our  teaching 
a  profound  reverence  for  the  Word  of  God,  as  being 
given  by  His  inspiration,  and  as  profitable  for  doc- 
trine, for  reproof,  for  correction,  and  instruction  in 
righteousness.     All  experience  shows   that  in  the 
AVord  of  God  thus  used  there  is  a  great  element  of 
power.     An  unseen  force  makes  of  it  a  hammer  to 
break  the  rock  in  pieces,  a  fire  to  burn  up  the  works 
of  the  flesh,  a  sword  to  divide  between  the  joints 
and  marrow,  a  lamp  to  discover  the  ways  of  peace, 
a  granary  stored  with  the  finest  of  the  wheat,  a  rock 


STRUCTURAL  ELEMENTS.  159 

that  drops  with  honey,  a  cloud  that  distils  refreshing 
dew.  Of  the  Bible  as  of  the  sword  of  Goliath  it 
may  be  said  that  there  is  none  like  it ;  preaching  is 
powerful  in  proportion  as  it  is  biblical ;  the  ablest 
essays  which  disregard  its  authority  are  little  better 
than  water  spilt  on  the  ground. 

2.  Hardly  less  common  was  another  method  of 
our  Lord — His  a;ppeals  to  ordinary  human  experience, 
as  justifying  views  which  He  advanced  and  duties 
which  He  urged.  This  may  be  called  the  homely 
element  of  Christ's  teaching.  It  gives  it  a  peculiarly 
practical  character.  It  brings  His  instructions  home 
to  the  business  and  bosoms  of  men.  "  Neither  do 
men  light  a  candle  and  put  it  under  a  bushel,  but 
on  a  candlestick,  and  it  giveth  light  unto  all  that 
are  in  the  house."  "  No  man  can  serve  two  masters : 
for  either  he  will  hate  the  one,  and  love  the  other ; 
or  else  he  will  hold  to  the  one,  and  despise  the  other." 
"  Which  of  you,  intending  to  build  a  tower,  sitteth 
not  down  first  and  counteth  the  cost,  whether  he 
have  sufiicient  to  finish  it?  ...  Or  what  kinir, 
going  to  make  war  against  another  king,  sitteth  not 
down  first  and  consulteth  whether  he  be  able  witli 
ten  thousand  to  meet  him  that  cometh  against  him 
with  twenty  thousand  ?" 

What  our  Lord  would  press  through  such  appeals 
is,  that  if  in  common  life  men  act  on  such  prin- 
ciples, surely  they  ought  to  acknowledge  them  in 
matters  of  infinitely  higher  moment.  We  do  not 
need  to  enlarge  on  the  charm  which  this  practice 
gave  to  our  Lord's  discourses,  the  intense  sense  of 
reality  which  it  imparted  to  His  teaching.  And  it  is 
very  remarkable  that  though  in  ordinary  hands  this 


160      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

line  of  remark  is  apt  to  become  undignified,  it  never 
becomes  undignified  in  the  hands  of  our  Lord. 
Homely  allusions,  designed  to  enforce  the  most 
solemn  principles  and  obligations,  are  apt  to  appear 
incongruous,  and  to  disturb  our  serious  feelings.  It 
is  wonderful  how  our  Lord  could  bring  into  contact 
things  most  solemn  and  things  very  common,  yet 
not  offend  our  sense  of  congruity.  He  could  picture 
a  householder  with  an  empty  cupboard  surprised  by 
a  midnight  visitor,  stealing  away  to  a  friend's  house, 
thundering  at  his  door,  and  begging  the  loan  of  three 
loaves,  while  the  friend,  angry  at  the  disturbance, 
growls  from  bed  a  surly  answer — really  a  picture 
full  of  humour,  probably  the  most  humorous  sketch 
in  all  His  ministry, — and  yet  in  His  hands  most  fitly 
following  up  that  beautiful  lesson  in  prayer  when 
He  taught  men  to  say,  "  Our  Father,  which  art  in 
heaven." 

This  power  of  turning  to  His  purposes  the  most 
homely  incidents  of  common  life  not  only  lightened 
His  method  of  teaching,  but  enabled  Him  to  clinch 
very  effectively  His  arguments  and  appeals.  No 
man  can  quarrel  with  his  own  ways,  repudiate  his 
own  practices,  traverse  his  own  judgments.  The 
practice  shows  how^  clever  and  ready-witted  our 
Lord  was,  always  able  to  find  weapons  close  at  hand 
for  His  purpose,  able  to  turn  them  quickly  and 
smartly  to  account,  hitting  the  nail  upon  the  head, 
and  establishing  His  point  with  convincing  power. 
But  let  us  observe  that  it  needs  common  sense  to 
appeal  to  common  sense.  Eccentric  minds  dealing 
with  the  common  affairs  of  life  are  apt  to  become 
incongruous  and  ludicrous.     You  must  have  good 


STRUCTUIIAL  ELEMENTS.  161 

sense,  and  its  twin  sister,  good  taste,  to  keep  clear  of 
absurdity,  and  utter  only  words  of  truth  and  sober- 
ness. 

There  are  preachers  that  despise  this  homely 
element,  and  think  it  vulgar.  But  it  must  be  a  false 
canon  that  repudiates  the  practice  of  our  Lord.  It 
is  a  canon  that,  with  its  prosy  abstractions  and  dry 
lines  of  thought,  would  often  be  more  honoured  in 
the  breach  than  the  observance.  What  a  relief  to 
an  audience  when,  by  a  sort  of  chance,  such  a 
preacher  wanders  into  the  homely  region,  and  relieves 
his  dulness  by  some  allusion  to  familiar  life !  We 
may  be  sure  that  we  are  making  a  great  sacrifice  of 
impression  wdien  we  confine  ourselves  to  stiff,  digni- 
fied abstractions.  And  we  may  be  equally  sure 
that  if  we  clinch  a  lesson  by  showing  its  harmony 
with  some  well-known  maxim  of  common-sense, 
some  well-known  law  of  human  life,  we  touch  a 
chord  which  will  not  fail  to  vibrate  in  many  souls. 

3.  But  our  Lord  makes  a  far  larger  use  of  the 
spontaneous  principles  of  our  nature.  Apj)cals  to 
our  intuitions,  intellectual  and  moral,  underlie  a 
great  part  of  His  teaching.  He  does  not  argue 
much;  by  a  more  direct  process  He  secures  our 
assent.  In  proof  of  this  remark  let  us  take  the  first, 
or  rather  the  whole  series  of  beatitudes,  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  How 
is  it  made  to  appear  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
belongs  to  the  poor  in  spirit  ?  A  great  teacher  must 
make  very  sure  of  his  first  position.  But  there  is  not 
an  attempt  at  proof.  Nor  does  it  seem  to  be  meant 
that  the  truth  is  to  be  received  simply  on  authority. 
L 


162      ELEMENTS  OF  LMPRESSION  IX  HIS  TEACHING. 

Ill  the  very  form  of  laying  down  the  proposition 
there  is  an  appeal  to  an  intuitional  something  in  the 
soul  that  responds  to  the  statement.  The  truth  is 
made  to  shine  by  its  own  light,  and  thus  commends 
itself  to  acceptance.  "  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger 
andthirst  after  righteousness:  for  they  shall  be  filled;" 
"Blessed  are  the  peacemakers:  for  they  shall  be 
called  the  children  of  God ; "  "  Blessed  are  the  pure 
in  heart :  for  they  shall  see  God  ;" — these  are  not  so 
much  new  revelations  as  they  are  clear  and  explicit 
exhibitions  of  truth  with  which  we  seem  to  have 
had  a  dim,  shadowy  acquaintance  before.  The  can- 
did mind  readily  admits  the  fitness  and  beauty  of 
the  connection  between  the  graces  denoted  and  the 
rewards  annexed.  It  seems  so  suitable,  so  beautiful, 
that  such  rewards  should  be  given.  The  readiness 
and  universality  with  which  this  is  acknowledged 
shows  our  Lord's  skill  in  availing  Himself  of  the 
intuitions  of  the  human  soul.  By  a  stroke  of 
heavenly  genius  He  goes  straight  to  the  chords  that 
respond  to  His  words,  and  sets  these  vibrating  in 
every  breast.  At  Killarney  it  is  only  as  the  result 
of  much  experiment  and  careful  observation  that  the 
guide  knows  the  precise  spots  where  the  echoes  he 
is  to  waken  lie  slumbering  among  the  mountains. 
But  Jesus  appears  all  at  once  to  have  gained  perfect 
knowledge  of  all  the  echoes  of  the  human  heart,  and 
complete  control  over  them.  Xo  man  disputes  the 
beatitudes.  They  awaken  echoes  in  the  very  depths 
of  our  nature. 

Or  let  us  take  a  sample  of  His  appeals  to  what  are 
more  strictly  our  morcd  intuitions.  Let  us  attend  to 
his  commentaries  on  the  sixth  and  seventh  com- 


STKUCTUKAL  ELEMENTS.  163 

mandmeiits.     After  giving  the  views  of  the  men  of 
old  time  He  substitutes  His  own :  "  I  say  unto  you, 
That  whosoever  is  angry  with  his  brother  without  a 
cause  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment ;  and  who- 
soever shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca,  shall  be  in 
danger   of  the   council;  but   whosoever  shall   say, 
Thou   fool,  shall  be  in   danger   of  hell-fire."  .  .  . 
"  Whosoever  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her, 
hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his 
heart."     These  are  no  doubt  in  a  sense  revelations 
of  the  Great  Lawgiver,  authoritative   decrees  of  a 
great  king.     But  do  they  not  waken  echoes  in  our 
moral  nature  ?     The  principle  that  the  heart  is  the 
seat  and  fountain  of  sin  is  one  to  which  we  cannot 
but  respond.     Our  Lord  does  little  more  than  apply 
an   acknowledged  principle.     And   startled  though 
we  are  to  find  branded  as  great  sins  what  may  appear 
to  be  only   silent  and  apparently  harmless  move- 
ments of  our  hearts,  a  moment's  reflection  shows  us 
that  the  judgment  of  our  Lord  is  true.     The  thought 
of  wickedness  is  sin. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  all  truths 
which  Christ  came  to  proclaim  found  an  echo  in 
men's  inner  nature.  The  announcement  of  His 
approaching  death  was  met  by  Peter  and  the 
apostles  with  a  strong  protest:  "Be  it  far  from 
thee,  Lord ;  this  shall  not  be  to  thee."  Nicodemus 
did  not  at  first  accept  the  doctrine  of  the  new  birth, 
nor  the  woman  of  Samaria  that  of  the  living  water. 
And  there  were  many  things  that  Jesus  would  have 
told  them  but  for  His  consciousness  that  they  would 
awaken  no  echo— they  would  encounter  too  many 
obstacles  among  the  prejudices  and  traditions  that 


164      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPliESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

still  prevailed.  "  I  have  many  things  to  say  unto 
you,  but  ye  cannot  receive  them  now."  It  was 
more  especially  in  the  sphere  of  "  heavenly  things  " 
that  this  reticence  had  to  be  practised.  "  If  I  have 
told  you  earthly  things  and  ye  believe  not,  how 
shall  ye  believe  if  I  tell  you  heavenly  things  ?"  In 
other  words,  there  was  little  or  nothing  in  their  in- 
tuitions for  such  truths  to  appeal  to.  Mo!:it  probably 
they  would  have  only  awakened  prejudices  in  oppo- 
sition. 

It  is  important  to  mark  this  fact.  It  shows 
that  Christ  came  to  reveal  as  well  as  to  appeal. 
He  came  to  make  known  truths  previously  un- 
known, and  not  merely  to  rouse  our  slumbering 
consciousness,  or  give  vividness  to  our  dim  concep- 
tions. He  did  not  raise  our  consciousness  to  the  rank 
of  an  original  or  supreme  authority,  He  used  it  only 
as  a  help.  He  did  not  make  it  a  standard,  but  only 
a  witness.  He  did  not  employ  it  on  all  occasions, 
but  only  v/hen  it  was  capable  of  bearing  witness. 
What  we  affirm  is,  that  wherever  there  was  any- 
thing in  the  intuitions  of  men's  minds  to  appeal  to, 
our  Lord  did  not  fail  to  recognise  the  fact.  He  did 
not  like  to  lay  the  whole  stress  on  the  principle  of 
obedience  to  authority.  Where  any  help  was  to  be 
got  from  men's  own  ways  of  asking,  or  ways  of 
thinking  and  feeling.  He  eagerly  availed  Himself  of 
that  aid.  Nothing  was  to  be  lost.  Any  echoes 
that  could  be  evoked  from  the  conscience,  any  sense 
there  might  be  of  moral  fitness,  any  perception  of 
what  was  becoraing  on  the  part  of  the  great  God 
were  carefully  brought  into  action  in  the  service  of 
the  kingdom ;  while  at  the  same  time,  it  was  made 


STKUCTUEAL  ELEMENTS.  165 

plain  that  the  fountain  of  authority  was  infinitely- 
higher,  and  that  truth  came  to  men  with  the  unchal- 
lengeable sanction,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

4.  A  fourth  element  of  impression  in  the  structure 
of  our  Lord's  discourses  is  found  in  the  variety  of  level 
which  He  occupied  in  His  expositions  of  truth  and 
duty,  ranging  from  the  level  of  ordinary  human  life 
to  the  sublimest  regions  to  which  the  mind  of  man 
can  rise.  Corresponding  to  this  variety  of  level  is 
the  variety  of  tone  in  which  the  several  subjects  are 
handled,  ranging  again  from  that  of  ordinary  con- 
versation to  the  impassioned  tones  of  the  most 
sublime  eloquence.  In  Augustine's  well-known 
work  De  Doctrind  Christiand,  Book  IV.,  where  the 
practical  v/ork  of  the  ministry  is  considered,  three 
methods  of  speaking  are  enumerated,  viz.  the  sub- 
missa  dictio,  the  temijerata  dictio,  and  the  grande 
dicendi  geiiiLS.  In  our  Lord's  metliod  of  teaching 
we  find  all  the  three. 

Of  our  Lord's  way  of  enforcing  the  more  homely 
aspects  of  truth,  enough  has  already  been  said :  we 
shall  now  turn  our  attention  more  to  His  method  of 
dealing  with  subjects  of  the  higher  kind — topics 
that  directly  touch  the  most  vital  and  solemn  of  all 
our  interests.  This  class  of  topics  is  one  from 
which  many  preachers  recoil.  Young  preachers  in 
particular  are  supposed  to  be  shy  of  dealing  with 
subjects  that  are  fitted  to  rouse  the  soul  to  its 
depths,  as  if  they  felt  that  greater  experience  and 
maturity  of  powers  were  needed  to  do  justice  to 
themes  of  such  sublimity. 

It  was  not  so  with,  our  Lord.     There  is  no  subject 


166      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPEESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

He  handles  more  frequently  than  the  solemn  retri- 
hutions  of  the  day  of  judgment.  He  follows  the 
soul  as  it  passes  from  this  world  into  the  presence 
of  the  Judge,  whether  to  be  plunged  into  hell,  or 
carried  by  the  angels  to  Abraham's  bosom.  He 
is  not  afraid  to  set  forth  both  the  severity  and  the 
goodness  of  God, — His  severity  to  the  unprofitable 
servant  who  tied  up  his  talent  in  a  napkin,  and 
buried  it  in  the  ground;  or  to  the  guest  at  the 
wedding  feast  who  came  to  the  entertainment  with- 
out having  on  the  wedding  garment.  The  goodness 
of  God  is  in  like  manner  unfolded,  as  in  the  parable 
of  the  Prodigal  Son,  where  the  tenderness  of  the 
Divine  compassion  is  so  beautifully  shown ;  or  in  the 
parable  of  the  Debtor,  whose  debt  of  ten  thousand 
talents  was  not  too  great  for  the  clemency  of  his 
lord.  It  is  usually  in  His  delineations  of  coming 
retribution,  and  in  contrasting  the  awards  of  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked,  that  our  Lord  rises  to  the 
sublimest  level,  and  His  words  glow  with  the  pro- 
foundest  emotion.  The  contrast  at  the  end  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  between  the  house  built  on 
the  rock  and  the  house  built  on  the  sand,  goes,  at 
least  for  the  moment,  to  every  heart.  And  there  is 
seldom  a  reader  over  whom  a  tremor  of  awe  does 
not  pass  when  all  nations  are  assembled  before  the 
Son  of  man,  now  come  in  His  glory,  and  the  holy 
angels  with  Him ;  when  He  divides  them  from 
each  other,  as  a  shepherd  divides  the  sheep  from 
the  goats;  and,  after  setting  forth  in  detail  what 
has  been  done  by  the  one,  and  left  undone  by 
the  other,  declares  their  doom  in  words  awful  in 
their    very  simplicity :  "  These  shall  go  away  into 


STRUCTUEAL  ELEIVIENTS.  167 

everlasting  punishmeiit,  but  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal." 

Not  less  striking  or  less  admirable  is  the  calm- 
ness with  which  our  Lord  contemplates  the  progress 
of  His  kingdom  in  the  world,  the  violence  with 
which  it  is  assailed,  and  the  tremendous  conflicts 
through  which  it  has  to  fight  its  way.  Of  final  dis- 
comfiture or  failure  He  never  shows  the  shadow  of 
a  fear;  He  is  never  forsaken  by  a  sublime  con- 
fidence in  the  future,  which  seems  to  spread  itself 
before  Him  in  a  vision  of  triumph,  in  which  all  His 
faithful  servants  will  share  in  the  rewards  and 
glories  that  shall  be  pre-eminently  His  own.  In 
His  closing  address  He  partly  draws  aside  the  cur- 
tain that  conceals  the  future,  tells  of  the  many 
mansions  in  His  Father's  house,  and  of  His  going  to 
prepare  a  place  for  them,  and  returning  to  take 
them  to  be  with  Himself.  Nor  is  it  merely  with 
sublime  hopes  for  the  future  that  He  cheers  His 
servants.  To  their  faith  He  offers  not  less  glorious 
privileges  for  the  present.  He  speaks  of  the  heavens 
opened,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  de- 
scending on  the  Son  of  man.  He  reveals  a  won- 
derful communion  between  faithful  hearts  and  the 
God  of  heaven :  "  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep 
my  words,  and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we 
will  come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him." 
He  lays  bare  the  secret  of  a  kind  of  omnipotence  in 
prayer  that  was  within  their  reach  :  "  If  ye  abide  in 
me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what 
ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you." 

Thus  wonderfully  does  Christ  mingle  the  element 
of  sublimity  v/ith  His  preaching.    And  yet  in  rising 


168      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

to  these  heiglits  He  is  neither  excited  nor  ecstatic, 
but  maintains  the  calm  self-possession  appropriate 
to  one  familiar  with  the  highest  themes.  To  keep 
pace  with  Him  in  such  regions,  to  rise  with  Him  to 
such  heights,  is  to  us  manifestly  impossible.  And 
yet  even  here,  though  with  caution,  the  successful 
minister  must  not  shrink  from  following  His  ex- 
ample. To  handle  these  sublime  truths  is  part  of 
the  duty  committed  to  us.  And,  moreover,  the 
human  soul  has  a  craving  for  the  sublime.  It  does 
not  like  to  be  pinned  down  to  the  low  level  of 
common  things.  The  eye  is  not  satisfied  with  the 
grey  tints  and  sombre  flats  of  a  level  country ;  it 
craves,  at  least  occasionally,  a  brighter  and  richer 
view — the  glories  of  an  autumnal  sunset,  or  the 
shining  peaks  of  snowy  mountains,  or  the  bright  blue 
of  the  sky,  or  of  the  sea.  Eeligious  teaching,  level 
and  monotonous,  may  have  every  quality  of  solid  ex- 
cellence, but  in  the  human  heart  there  is  a  craving 
for  something  more.  It  is  true  that  there  is  no  class 
of  truths  where  men  of  vulgar  taste  and  ambitious 
rhetoric  are  so  apt  to  make  the  subject  ridiculous 
and  to  disgust  their  hearers.  There  is  no  region 
where  magniloquence  and  tawdry  metaphor  are  so 
much  out  of  place  as  the  region  of  death,  judgment, 
and  eternity.  But  those  who  lavish  their  vulgar 
drapery  on  such  themes  have  not  studied  in  the 
school  of  Christ.  Nor  does  the  fact  that  in  connec- 
tion with  such  subjects  disastrous  mistakes  have 
sometimes  been  committed,  affect  our  position  that 
the  Christian  preacher  is  not  to  turn  away  from 
them.  Not  that  he  is  to  make  of  them  his  every- 
day topics,  for  then  the  danger  will   be  to   strip 


STRUCTURAL  ELEMENTS.  169 

them  of  their  thrilling  power ;  rather  ought  they  to 
be  regarded  as  the  great  festival  topics  appropriate 
to  times  of  special  exercise  and  high  endeavour, 
when  we  leave  the  noise  and  dust  of  the  world  far 
behind  us,  and  on  the  wings  of  faith  and  love  soar 
away  to  the  gates  of  heaven. 

5.  A  fifth,  and  very  remarkable  structural  pecu- 
liarity of  our  Lord's  teaching,  is  His  abundant  use 
of  illustration.  This,  however,  introduces  us  to  so 
wide  a  subject  that  we  shall  reserve  it  for  special 
consideration  in  our  next  chapter. 

6.  We  therefore  note  here,  in  conclusion,  various 
felicities  of  style  that  are  conspicuous  in  our  Lord's 
method. 

{a.)  Prominent  among  these  is  the  remarkable 
finish  which  marks  all  His  discourses.  There  is 
absolutely  no  instance  of  redundancy,  or  careless- 
ness, or  uncouthness  of  speech.  All  is  expressed 
with  admirable  correctness  and  precision.  It  is  not 
easy  for  us  to  understand  the  process  by  which  our 
Lord  attained  this  result.  We  have  no  knowledge 
what  opportunities  He  may  have  had  of  practising 
speaking  during  the  thirty  years  of  His  silent  pre- 
paration. But  there  is  abundant  proof  of  a  very 
admirable  intellectual  and  spiritual  discipline,  lead- 
ing to  the  utmost  precision  both  of  thought  and 
expression  on  the  subjects  that  occupied  His  mind. 
The  eagerness  with  which,  at  the  age  of  twelve.  He 
conversed  with  the  doctors  in  the  temple,  would 
lead  us  to  believe  that  He  would  gladly  avail  Him- 
self of  every  opportunity  of  conversation  that  might 
present  itself  to  Him.  His  nature  was  evidently 
social ;  He  liked  company ;  He  had  no  turn  for  the 


170      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

hermit's  life.  But,  whatever  were  His  opportuni- 
ties of  speaking,  it  seems  beyond  doubt  that  He 
cultivated  habits  of  very  careful  and  orderly  think- 
ing, and  such  thinking  naturally  clothes  itself  in 
corresponding  language.  If  men  should  infer,  from 
the  simple  structure  of  our  Lord's  discourses,  that 
matters  of  style  are  of  little  or  no  importance,  they 
would  draw  the  very  inference  most  opposite  to  the 
truth.  The  best  pains  that  can  be  bestowed  on  the 
style  of  religious  discourses  is  that  which  makes 
them  plain,  simple,  and  precisely  adapted  to  the 
object  in  view.  Illiterate  speakers  who  talk  at 
random  may  sometimes,  by  sheer  genius,  hit  the 
nail  on  the  head ;  but,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases, 
their  want  of  consecutiveness,  their  repetitions,  their 
flabbiness  and  uncouthness,  make  a  fearful  mess 
of  the  topic^  they  handle.  Men  that  are  but  half- 
educated,  with  a  vulgar  taste,  fall  into  similar  errors. 
The  labour  that  strips  one's  spoken  style  of  super- 
fluity, makes  all  simple  and  orderly,  and  brings  out 
one's  meaning  with  the  admirable  clearness  and 
conciseness  that  marked  every  utterance  of  our 
Lord,  is  far  from  being  wasted  labour.  We  see  the 
influence  of  our  Lord's  style  on  the  apostles — at  least 
on  such  of  them  as  have  left  speeches  or  writings 
behind  them.  All  is  clear  and  orderly,  and  at  the 
same  time  most  penetrating  and  impressive. 

(6.)  In  our  Lord's  style  we  may  further  notice 
great  facility  of  expansion.  Expansion  is  the  quality 
that  helps,  as  Whately  puts  it,  in  the  digestion  of  a 
discourse, — dilutes  it  sufficiently  to  let  it  be  taken 
up  and  appropriated  by  an  ordinary  mind.  Many 
familiar  instances  will  readily  occur :  "  If  thine  eye 


STRUCT  [JEAL  ELEMENTS.  171 

offend  thee — if  thy  hand  offend  thee."  "If  ye  salute 
,your  brethren  only — if  ye  love  them  that  love  you." 
"  Lord,  thou  deliveredst  unto  me  five  talents:  behold, 
I  have  gained  besides  them  five  talents  more.  Lord, 
thou  deliveredst  unto  me  two  talents  :  behold,  1  have 
gained  two  other  talents  besides  them."  "Then 
shall  two  be  in  the  field ;  the  one  shall  be  taken, 
and  the  other  left.  Two  women  shall  be  grinding 
at  the  mill ;  the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the  other 
left."  "I  am  the  living  bread  which  came  down 
from  heaven.  If  any  man  eat  of  this  bread,  he  shall 
live  for  ever :  and  the  bread  which  I  will  give  is  my 
flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the  world. 
Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Except  ye  eat  the 
flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye 
have  no  life  in  you.  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and 
drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life;  and  I  will  raise 
him  up  at  the  last  day.  For  my  flesh  is  meat  in- 
deed, and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed." 

(c.)  Even  more  remarkable,  however,  than  His 
power  of  expansion  is  His  faculty  of  concentration. 
To  go  straight  to  the  heart  of  a  subject,  and  bring 
out  its  pith  and  marrow  in  a  single  happy  expres- 
sion, is  a  mark  of  profound  genius.  A  whole  world 
of  spiritual  truth  seems  to  be  given  in  essence  in 
the  word  to  Nicodemus  :  "  Ye  must  be  born  aoain." 
Hardly  less  is  packed  up  in  the  word  spoken  to  the 
woman  of  Samaria  :  "  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that 
worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in 
truth."  How  many  foolish  ideas  were  scattered, 
and  what  a  gloriously  suggestive  truth  brought  into 
the  light  in  the  words — "They  that  are  whole  need 
not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick  " !     A  vast 


172      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

amount  of  practical  theology  is  contained  in  that 
antithesis — "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and 
not  man  for  the  Sabbath."  Other  examples  are  the 
following: — "A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth;" 
"The  spirit  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak;" 
"Where  the  carcase  is,  there  shall  the  eagles  be 
gathered  together."  Evidently  our  Lord  was  fond 
of  proverbs  that  sum  up  a  great  amount  of  practical 
wisdom  in  very  few  words  :  "  A  prophet  is  not  with- 
out honour  save  in  his  own  country ; "  "  Physician, 
heal  thyself;"  "Herein  is  that  saying  true.  One 
soweth,  and  another  reapeth." 

But  probably  the  most  striking  of  all  the  forms 
of  concentrated  speech  used  by  our  Lord  was  in 
prayer,  and  especially  the  Lord's  Prayer.  On  the  very 
surface,  a  prayer  of  but  six  or  seven  lines  in  length, 
containing  the  leading  matters  suitable  to  be  asked 
of  God  in  all  ages,  in  all  countries,  and  by  all  ranks 
and  conditions  of  sinful  men,  must  be  a  wonderful 
production.  But  the  more  it  is  pondered  the  greater 
does  the  marvel  become.  The  more  profound  the 
knowledge  that  Christian  men  acquire  of  human 
want  on  the  one  hand  and  Divine  grace  on  the  other, 
the  more  rich,  suggestive,  and  indeed  wholly  in- 
exhaustible are  these  petitions  found  to  be.  A 
proof  of  this  is,  that  from  the  earliest  times  many 
of  the  best  minds  in  the  Christian  Church  have 
been  expounding  that  prayer,  and  yet  the  subject  is 
not  exhausted.  Hardly  ever  has  a  competent  writer 
addressed  himself  to  it  without  making  some  addi- 
tion to  what  it  has  been  shown  to  contain.  Nothing 
is  to  be  move  deprecated  than  the  common  practice 


STltUCTUKAL  ELEMENTS  173 

of  rattling  over  the  petitions  in  public  without 
affording  a  moment's  time  to  think  on  the  wonder- 
ful depth  of  their  contents.  Each  several  clause 
carries  us  out  on  a  new  excursion  to  the  infinite : — 
so  vast  is  the  variety  of  particulars  and  the  range  of 
possible  fulfilment  which  rise  before  the  thoughtful 
and  exercised  heart. 

We  have  exhausted  our  space  but  not  our  subject. 
As  the  thoughtful  reader  studies  the  discourses  of 
Christ,  feature  after  feature  of  excellence  and  power 
will  present  themselves  to  his  mind,  and  a  profounder 
conviction  will  form  itself  of  the  truth  of  the  criti- 
cism— "  Xever  man  spake  as  this  man." 


CHAPTEr.   X. 

ELEMENTS    OF   IMPRESSION   IN    HIS   TEACHING. 
III.    ILLUSTRATION. 

Theije  is  no  feature  of  our  Lord's  method  of  teach- 
ing that  is  more  universally  appreciated  than  His 
habit  of  illustrating.  It  is  an  obvious  fact  that  from 
first  to  last  His  discourses  swarm  with  illustrations. 
One  of  the  most  characteristic  and  prominent  class 
of  His  discourses,  His  parables,  may  be  said  to  be 
illustrations,  pure  and  simple.  This  class  of  illus- 
trations is  so  important  that  w^e  shall  reserve  it  for 
separate  consideration.  But  apart  from  the  parables, 
His  ordinary  discourses  and  conversations  sparkle 
with  illustrations  as  the  sky  by  night  sparkles  with 
stars. 

One  thing  is  already  very  obvious — our  Lord  had 
no  sympathy  with  those  who  object  to  illustration 
on  principle.  It  is  regarded  by  some  as  an  inferior 
mode  of  instruction.  It  is  alleged  that  because  some 
men  are  not  capable  of  giving,  and  others  are  not 
capable  of  receiving,  truth  by  means  of  the  primary 
organ,  the  logical  faculty,  an  inferior  and  less  trust- 
Avorthy  organ,  the  imagination,  is  resorted  to  as  a 
medium  of  instruction.  Not  only  is  the  imagination 
inferior  to  the  logical  faculty  as  an  organ  of  giving 
and  receiving  truth,  but  it  is  much  more  liable  to 

17i 


ILLUSTllATION.  175 

deceive.     Men  are  liable  to  be  led  to  wrong  con- 
clusions by  false  or  irrelevant  analogies. 

It  is  plain,  we  say,  that  our  Lord  did  not 
sympathise  with  this  objection.  If  He  had  been 
dealing  with  none  but  skilled  and  trained  lo<Ti- 
cians,  He  might  have  seen  it  right  to  adhere  to 
the  strict  methods  of  logic,  as  a  mathematician, 
teaching  geometry,  adheres  to  the  strict  method  of 
Euclid.  But  our  Lord  was  dealing  with  popular 
audiences.  His  hearers  generally  were  not  trained 
logicians,  but  men  whose  ways  of  receiving  truth 
were  moulded  by  the  practice  of  ordinary  life.  To 
such  men  illustration  is  one  of  the  most  common 
and  most  useful  mirrors  of  truth.  Hence  our  Lord 
made  the  most  plentiful  use  of  it,  guarding  at  the 
same  time  against  all  possible  abuse. 

In  all  discourses,  and  especially  long  discourses 
(our  Lord's  were  never  long),  few  things  are  so 
repulsive  as  dryness,  and  discourses  which  are  desti- 
tute of  illustration  are  sure  to  be  dry,  and  unsuitable 
to  the  popular  mind.  ISTow,  the  faculty  of  illustra- 
tion, like  the  faculty  of  observation,  is  one  that 
requires  to  be  diligently  exercised,  and  that  is  sus- 
ceptible of  almost  indefinite  improvement  throuf^h 
exercise.  Hardly  any  one  is  destitute  of  the  germ 
of  the  faculty  of  illustration,  for  the  perception  of 
analogies  and  contrasts  is  one  of  the  most  ordinary 
attributes  of  the  human  mind.  But  a  large  propor- 
tion of  preachers  allow  it  to  be  neglected,  and 
comparatively  few  are  impressed  (as  Dr.  Guthrie 
was)  with  its  importance  so  as  to  make  the  cultiva- 
tion of  it  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  their  care.  In 
teaching  the  young  we  instinctively  fall  back  on 


176      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

illustration,  and  it  is  generally  those  who  have  been 
compelled  to  illustrate  truth  in  the  family,  the 
Sunday-school,  or  the  Bible-class,  that  become  most 
successful  in  the  use  of  it.  We  feel  instinctively, 
as  we  handle  the  young  mind,  that  a  long  spell  of 
abstract  statement  wearies  and  repels  it;  it  must 
have  a  story,  an  anecdote,  or  a  figure.  It  is  well  to 
remember  that  men  are  but  children  of  a  larger 
growth,  and  that  by  most  of  them  bare  exposition  or 
dry  discussion  is  as  little  relished  as  by  children. 
In  discoursing  to  ordinary  flocks,  preachers  have  just 
as  much  need  to  think  how  they  may  brighten  and 
illustrate  their  remarks  as  in  dealing  with  children. 
If  they  fail  they  must  pay  the  penalty,  and  that  will 
commonly  be  found  in  a  weary,  uninterested  audi- 
ence, and  the  preacher's  labour  spent  in  vain. 

In  considering  our  Lord's  method  we  may  first 
note  the  sources  from  which  He  drew  His  illustra- 
tions; second,  their  peculiar  form;  and  third,  the 
purpose  for  which  they  were  used.  The  parables, 
however,  will  not  be  included  in  the  present  inquiry. 

(1.)  Sources. — If  we  collect  and  classify  our  Lord's 
illustrations  we  shall  find  that  with  hardly  an  excep- 
tion they  all  spring  from  these  two — external  nature 
and  human  life.  This  implies  a  co-relation  of  three 
things — Christian  truth  (the  thing  that  has  to  be 
illustrated),  human  life,  and  external  nature  (the 
sources  from  which  the  illustrations  came).  No  one 
can  deem  it  surprising  that  Christian  truth  should 
stand  related  to  the  operations  of  nature.  Both  have 
the  same  Author,  and  both  are  revelations  of  the 
same  Being.  It  was  by  the  Son  that  God  made  the 
world,  and  it  was  by  the  Son  that  He  revealed  Him- 


ILLUSTRATION.  177 

self  in  the  Gospel.  It  is  no  wonder  that  He  who 
revealed  the  Father  in  the  gospel  should  have  found 
numberless  analogies  to  that  revelation  in  the  world 
of  nature,  which  was  but  a  revelation  of  the  self-same 
God.  It  may  excite  some  surprise,  however,  that  in 
the  sphere  of  human  life  He  should  have  found  so 
many  resemblances  to  the  truth  of  God.  Has  not 
the  machinery  of  human  life  been  thrown  too  much 
out  of  gear  by  sin  to  be  adapted  to  such  a  pur- 
pose? Not  so,  in  the  judgment  of  our  Lord.  "If 
ye  that  are  evil  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father  which 
is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask  him  ?" 
It  would  seem  from  this  that  there  is  still  a  sphere 
in  human  life  that  furnishes  analogies  to  the  ways 
of  God.  The  entire  sphere  is  not  so  co-related,  but 
a  part  of  it  is,  and  it  is  in  that  part  which  has  been 
least  shattered  by  the  forces  of  evil  that  our  Lord 
found  His  illustrations  of  the  order  and  operations 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

The  analogy  that  connects  the  vjorld  of  nature 
with  the  revealed  truth  of  God  is  one  of  profoundest 
interest,  and  it  affords  a  delightful  field  for  the 
faculties  of  congenial  minds.  The  analogy  is  seldom 
obvious;  it  commonly  lies  below  the  surface.  To 
bring  it  to  light  requires  a  certain  insight  or  pene- 
trating power,  "  the  vision  and  faculty  divine  "  of  the 
poet.  Of  modern  poets  none  has  shown  more  of 
this  gift  than  Wordsworth,  in  so  far  as  the  sights 
and  sounds  of  nature  bear  on  the  truths  of  natural 
religion.  Keble  makes  nature  speak  in  a  more 
evangelical  strain ;  the  morning  sun  is  the  fit  symbol 
of  Him  who  makes  all  things  new,  but  when  the  sun 


178      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

sets  at  night  lie  only  contrasts  with  the 

Sun  of  my  soul,  thou  Saviour  dear, 
It  is  not  night,  if  Thou  be  near. 

The  angels'  song  is 

Like  circles  widening  round 

Upon  a  clear  blue  river, 
Orb  after  orb,  the  wondrous  sound 
Is  echoed  on  for  ever  : 
"  Glory  to  God  on  high,  on  earth  be  peace, 
And  love  towards  men  of  love — salvation  and  release." 

Some  of  our  Scotch  preachers,  like  James  Hamilton, 
William  Arnot,  and  Hugh  Macmillan,  have  shown 
the  same  poetical  insight,  with  a  large  power  of 
application.  The  charm  of  their  writings  lies  in 
their  way  of  bringing  out  the  analogies  of  nature 
and  grace ;  and  the  genius  of  the  writers  lies  in  the 
felicitous  way  in  which  they  hit  off  the  analogies, 
and  show  the  relation  of  the  one  topic  to  the 
other. 

(2.)  Form  of  our  Lord's  illustrations.  It  is  to 
be  observed,  that  there  are  two  ways  of  dealing 
with  analogies  between  the  processes  of  nature  and 
the  ways  of  God.  The  one  is  realistic,  the  other 
idealistic.  The  one  is  prose,  the  other  poetry.  The 
one  didactic — chiefly  for  use  ;  the  other  aesthetic — 
more  for  ornament. 

Of  all  instances  of  the  prosaic  method  of  treating 
analogy,  Butler's  work  is  the  most  remarkable.  The 
object  of  the  book,  as  explained  in  the  title-page,  is 
to  trace  the  analogy  of  religion,  natural  and  revealed, 
to  the  course  of  nature.  The  subject  is  capable  of 
poetical  treatment,  but  very  wisely  Butler  has 
adopted  the  other  mode.     It  may  be  hard  on  the 


ILLUSTRATION.  179 

reader — as  Tholuck  said  of  the  book,  one  tires  of 
walking  on  dry  sand, — but  it  is  fortunate  for  tlie 
subject.  Where  the  object  of  a  writer  is  to  establish 
and  elucidate  truth,  the  more  prosaic  his  treatment 
of  analogy  the  better.  If  the  object  be  to  embellish 
what  is  known  and  admitted,  the  poetical  mode 
of  treating  resemblances  may  safely  come  in. 
For  it  is  in  the  more  idealistic  or  free  poetical 
use  of  analogy  that  the  danger  lies  of  dazzling  the 
vision  and  misleading  the  judgment.  The  prosaic 
use  of  analogy  is  not  so  subject  to  this  risk. 

1^0 w  it  is  chiefly  to  the  more  prosaic  method  that 
our  Lord's  analogies  belong.  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth.  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.  I  am  the 
vine,  ye  are  the  branches.  If  these  things  be  done 
in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry?" 
Our  Lord's  object  was  to  establish  truth.  With 
such  a  purpose,  it  would  not  have  been  suitable  for 
Him  to  intrust  Himself,  as  His  ordinary  habit,  to 
the  wings  of  poetry.  And  if  the  four  Gospels  had 
abounded  in  poetic  flights  and  visions,  their  liistori- 
cal  character  might  have  been  more  easily  attacked, 
and  we  should  have  wanted  the  strong  argument  for 
their  absolute  truth  which  their  calm  matter-of-fact 
aspect  so  clearly  supplies. 

Thus  it  is  that  certain  of  our  Lord's  illustrations 
seem  tame  in  comparison  with  some  in  the  Old 
Testament  of  similar  tenor.  Compare  two  emblems 
of  the  Divine  solicitude  for  men:   "As  an  eade 

o 

stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her  young, 
spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth 
them  on  her  wings,  so  the  Lord  alone  did  lead  him,  and 
there  was  no  strange  god  with  him."     "  How  often 


180      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  as  a 
hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  but 
ye  would  not !"  In  the  imagery  of  the  psalms  and 
prophets  the  idealistic  spirit  often  soars  to  heights 
sublime.  In  the  Apocalypse  you  have  it  in  its 
most  brilliant  and  gorgeous  form.  Compared  with 
the  splendour  on  either  side,  our  Lord's  imagery  is 
somewhat  bare  and  tame.  Not  that  it  altogether 
wants  touches  of  poetry.  There  is  beauty  as  well 
as  force  in  the  imagery  of  the  lilies  :  "  Consider  the 
lilies  of  the  field ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin; 
and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that  even  Solomon  in  all 
his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these."  The 
parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  in  its  very  simplicity  is 
a  beautiful  poem;  so  is  the  parable  of  the  Lost  Sheep; 
and  the  tragic  elements  in  the  Eich  Man  and  Lazarus 
could  hardly  be  surpassed.  In  certain  delineations 
of  the  future  our  Lord  allowed  His  fancy  an  ampler 
sweep  :  "  Then  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  his 
right  hand,  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit 
the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world :  for  I  was  an  huugered,  and  ye  gave 
me  meat :  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink :  I 
was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in :  naked,  and  ye 
clothed  me :  sick  and  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto 
me."  "  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions : 
if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to 
prepare  a  place  for  you."  "  He  shall  send  his  angels 
with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  they  shall 
gather  together  his  elect  from  the  four  winds,  from 
one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other." 

But  if  in  handling  iUustratious  drawn  from  the 
field  of  nature  our  Lord  seldom  soars  into  the  higher 


ILLUSTRATIOX.  181 

regions  of  poetry,  but  keeps  to  the  more  prosaic 
method,  this  feature  is  still  more  apparent  in 
emblems  drawn  from  human  life  :  "Neither  do 
men  light  a  candle,  and  put  it  under  a  bushel, 
but  on  a  candlestick  .  .  ."  "No  man  putteth  a 
piece  of  new  cloth  unto  an  old  garment  .  .  ." 
"If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into 
the  ditch  .  .  ."  "  No  man  having  put  his  hand  to 
the  plough,  and  looking  back,  is  fit  for  the  kingdom 
of  God." 

In  such  instances  our  Lord  just  appeals  to  the 
common-sense  of  men,  but  by  using  an  illustration 
He  exemplifies  that  rule  of  vivid  discourse  by  which 
you  express  the  general  by  the  particular.  He  does 
not  in  an  abstract  way  bid  us  beware  of  bestowing 
on  coarse  rough  men  arguments  beyond  their  capa- 
city, or  gifts  beyond  their  taste,  but  He  says,  "  Give 
not  that  which  is  holy  unto  dogs,  neither  cast  your 
pearls  before  swine."  He  does  not  reprove  the 
Pharisees  for  passing  over  offences  of  lesser  magni- 
tude, and  being  very  particular  about  smaller  sins, 
but  He  exclaims,  "  Ye  blind  guides,  which  strain  out 
a  gnat,  and  swallow  a  camel."  He  does  not  say 
drily  that  consciousness  of  our  emptiness,  the  sense 
of  dependence,  docility,  and  guilelessness,  are  marks 
of  His  followers,  but  He  says,  "  Whosoever  shaU  not 
receive  the  kingdom  of  heaven  like  a  little  child, 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  therein."  He  does  not  say 
that  heaven  is  capable  of  accommodating  a  large 
and  varied  family,  but,  "  In  my  Father's  house  are 
many  mansions."  He  does  not  say  that  He  will  be 
careful  of  their  interests  when  He  goes  thither ;  but, 
"  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you  " — ^iust  as  the  two 


182      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSION  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

disciples  had  gone  before  to  prepare  the  place  in 
which  they  were.  And  yet  there  are  preachers  who 
think  they  are  following  in  Christ's  steps  when  they 
translate  His  bright,  graphic  emblems  into  abstract 
propositions  and  weary  prose  ! 

We  cannot  but  remark  how  our  Lord's  illustrations 
fulfilled  the  rule  that  they  ought  to  be  drawn  from 
familiar  objects.  Transparency  is  the  true  quality 
of  all  that  is  designed  to  illustrate,  and  for  this 
end  the  analogy  must  be  one  that  is  familiar  to 
the  hearer.  And  there  is  this  further  advantage 
in  such  illustration,  that  the  preacher  is  in  less 
danger  of  spending  undue  pains  on  the  dress  of  the 
figure.  In  those  who  have  to  deal  with  the  awful 
realities  of  sin  and  grace,  death,  judgment,  and  eter- 
nity, the  elaborate  dressing  out  of  illustration  is 
highly  unbecoming.  The  wisest  course  is  to  follow 
in  the  footsteps  of  our  Lord :  to  aim  simply  at  in- 
structing and  impressing  the  audience ,  to  seek  to  be 
homely  without  being  vulgar,  and  plain  without 
being  commonplace. 

(3.)  P^irposc  of  our  Lorcts  illustrations.  Coming 
now  to  consider  more  minutely  the  reasons  for  which 
our  Lord  made  so  much  use  of  illustration,  we  re- 
mark that  the  purpose  to  be  served  was  twofold, — 
to  elucidate  truth  and  to  apply  it.  Illustration  in  His 
hands  deals  with  truth  in  its  relation  to  the  intel- 
lect, and  in  its  relation  to  the  will.  In  its  relation 
to  the  intellect,  the  purpose  of  illustration  is  to  make 
truth  clear ;  in  its  relation  to  the  will,  it  is  to  make 
truth  practically  effective.  Sometimes  an  illustra- 
tion will  serve  both  purposes, — nay,  it  will  even  do 
more :  it  will  state  a  truth,  elucidate  it,  and  enforce 


ILLUSTRATION.  183 

it  all  together.  When  our  Lord  says,  "  Ye  are  the 
light  of  the  world.  A  city  that  is  set  on  an  hill 
cannot  be  hid.  Neither  do  men  light  a  candle,  and 
put  it  under  a  bushel,  but  on  a  candlestick ;  and  it 
giveth  light  to  all  that  are  in  the  house.  Let  your 
light  so  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your 
good  works,  and  glorify  your  Father  who  is  in 
heaven  " — He  at  once  states,  explains,  and  enforces 
the  Christian  duty  of  so  living  as  to  influence 
others. 

It  is  only  what  we  should  expect  that  many  of 
our  Lord's  illustrations  should  bear  on  those  truths, 
whether  doctrinal  or  practical,  which  were  most 
conspicuous  in  His  teaching,  (a.)  Prominent  among 
His  doctrinal  truths  is  the  fatherly  character  of  God, 
This  is  beautifully  brought  out,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  and  in  the  homely 
question,  "  What  man  is  there  among  you,  whom  if 
his  son  ask  bread  will  he  give  him  a  stone  ?  if  he 
ask  a  fish  will  he  give  him  a  serpent  ? "  Other  illus- 
trations bring  out  the  judicial  character  of  God, 
brought  in  the  gospel  into  harmony  with  the  pater- 
nal, (h.)  The  inioard'iuss  of  true  religion.  Not  that 
which  entereth  in  defileth  a  man,  but  that  which 
Cometh  out.  The  cup  and  the  platter  may  be 
clean  outwardly,  but  horribly  foul  inside.  Alms 
and  prayers  are  to  be  offered  in  secret,  not  to  be 
seen  of  men.  (c.)  The  practical  fruitfulness  of  true 
religion  is  shown  by  the  figure  of  the  house  built  on 
the  sand  and  that  built  on  the  rock ;  the  parable  of 
the  Sower ;  or  the  question.  Do  men  gather  grapes  of 
thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles  ?  (d.)  Our  sioiritual  de- 
pendence on  Christ.     The  fourth  Gospel  being  that 


184      ELEMENTS  OF  IMPRESSIOX  IN  HIS  TEACHING. 

in  which  this  theme  is  most  enlarged  on,  the  illus- 
trations of  it  are  found  chiefly  there.  Christ  is  the 
bread  of  life  and  the  water  of  life,  and  we  must 
come  to  Him  to  obtain  these.  He  is  the  true  vine, 
and  we  must  abide  in  Him  in  order  to  be  fruitful. 
He  is  the  door  of  the  sheepfold,  and  if  we  would  be 
lawful  inmates  of  it,  we  must  enter  by  Him.  He  is 
the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life,  and  if  we  would 
come  to  the  Father,  we  must  come  by  Him.  He  is 
the  resurrection  and  the  life,  and  if  we  would  live 
for  ever,  we  must  believe  in  Him :  "  He  that  be- 
lieveth  on  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he 
live."  (e.)  Prominent  among  the  practical  truths 
illustrated  by  Christ  is  the  great  duty  of  trust. 
"Consider  the  fowls  of  the  air;"  "  Consider  the  lilies 
of  the  field;"  "Consider  the  grass,  which  to-day  is, 
and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,"  and  draw  from 
all  the  lesson  of  trust.  (/.)  The  duty  of  prayer  is 
enforced  by  analogies  among  men,  especially  by 
the  parables  of  the  Friend  at  Midnight  and  the  Im- 
portunate Widow,  {g.)  Tlie  duty  of  service,  as  really 
the  highest  condition  in  Christ's  kingdom,  is  en- 
forced by  the  symbolical  act  of  washing  the  disciples' 
feet,  and  by  the  parable  of  the  Sheep  and  the  Goats. 
Other  features  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  as  we 
shall  see  in  our  next  chapter,  are  illustrated  by 
other  parables. 

Thus  did  our  Lord  leave  behind  Him  pictorial 
witnesses,  as  it  were,  for  all  of  the  greatest  truths 
which  He  came  to  teach.  What  pictures  are  to 
a  book  of  history,  our  Lord's  illustrations  are  to 
the  Gospels.  The  things  that  are  seen  become  re- 
vealers  of  things  unseen  and  eternal.     The  sluggish 


ILLUSTRATION.  185 

mind  is  stimulated  by  the  active  eye  and  the  active 
ear;  and  the  sluggish  conscience  is  roused  from 
its  slumbers  when  it  is  seen  how  the  pains  and 
care  bestowed  on  the  life  that  now  is  rebuke 
the  apathy  so  often  manifested  about  the  concerns 
of  the  life  to  come. 


CHAPTEE    XL 

PAKABOLIC   DISCOURSES. 

The  parables  stand  out  in  the  teaching  of  Christ 
as  the  pyramids  in  the  scenery  of  Egypt,  or  the 
Alps  and  glaciers  in  that  of  Switzerland.  They  are 
not  only  prominent  and  remarkable  phenomena,  but 
they  are  found  nowhere  else.  There  are  no  pyramids 
but  the  Egyptian ;  no  snow- clad  peaks  (at  least 
within  easy  reach)  but  the  Swiss ;  and  virtually  no 
parables  but  our  Lord's.  The  parable  was  emphati- 
cally Christ's  instrument.  We  have  a  few  samples 
of  it  in  the  Old  Testament,  like  Jotham's  parable  of 
the  trees  electing  a  king,  or  Isaiah's  parable  of  the 
vineyard,  or  Ezekiel's  of  the  eagles  and  the  twig  of 
cedar.  But  in  the  hands  of  Christ  the  parable  cul- 
minates, and  we  may  say,  terminates.  For  strange 
to  say,  none  of  the  apostles,  not  even  those  of  Jewish 
birth,  seem  to  have  attempted  this  form  of  teaching. 
When  the  beloved  disciple  in  the  Apocalypse  brought 
in  the  imagination  as  a  handmaid  to  truth,  it  was 
in  a  totally  different  form.  St.  Paul's  allegory  of 
Mount  Sinai  in  Arabia,  and  the  Jerusalem  which  is 
above,  is  not  in  the  form  of  the  parable.  The  early 
Christian  fathers  did  not  revive  it.  The  "Shepherd" 
of  Hennas  embodies  the  spirit  of  it,  but  not  the 
form.      In  more  recent  times,  Christian  literature 

186 


PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES.  187 

and  art  have  been  enriched  by  allegorical  books  and 
pictures,  by  stories  for  children,  and  by  religions 
romances,  all  in  the  spirit  of  the  parable,  but  none 
of  them  identical  with  it.  There  could  hardly  be  a 
more  striking  testimony  to  our  Lord's  originality. 
To  put  a  sermon  into  a  dozen  of  lines,  or  a  drama 
into  half  a  page ;  to  bring  out  the  highest  lessons  as 
vividly  as  in  the  most  elaborate  composition ;  to 
leave  them  rankling  in  the  conscience,  and  grappling 
with  the  will,  thus  modifying  one's  whole  view  of 
life  and  duty,  is  a  feat  of  spiritual  dexterity  beyond 
human  powers.  The  parable  is  like  the  bow  of 
Ulysses, — ordinary  hands  cannot  wield  it.  It  re- 
mains alike  a  monument  of  Christ's  originality  and 
a  trophy  of  His  power. 

It  is  needless  for  us,  therefore,  to  discuss  the 
parable  as  if  it  were  possible  for  the  modern  preacher 
to  revive  it.  All  that  we  can  reasonably  hope  to  do 
is  to  transfuse  its  spirit  into  our  lessons,  and  espe- 
cially our  lessons  for  the  young  and  the  ignorant. 
We  ought  never  to  dream  of  abandoning  the  imagi- 
nationr  as  a  brilliant  auxiliary  in  the  service  of 
Christianity.  But  we  must  use  it  in  such  forms  as 
we  may  hope,  with  God's  help,  to  be  able  to  turn  to 
practical  account  in  present  times. 

Among  other  ways  of  classifying  the  parables,  two 
may  be  suggested  as  having  a  bearing  on  the  homi- 
letical  and  pastoral  aspect  of  the  subject :  first,  they 
may  be  classified  according  to  the  audiences  to  which 
they  were  addressed;  or,  second,  according  to  the 
'purpose  for  which  they  were  designed. 

With  regard  to  the  audiences  to  which  the  para- 
bles were  addressed,  we  may  note  four: — (1.)  The 


188  PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES. 

o%^o?>  the  mixed  multitude  that  used  to  throng  and 
follow  Christ.  (2.)  The  priests  and  rulers  at  Jeru- 
salem. (3.)  The  fiaOijrau,  or  disciples  generally. 
(4.)  The  twelve,  the  special  fiaOrirai,  or  confidential 
followers  of  our  Lord.  Some  parables  were  spoken 
to  individuals,  or  smaller  groups.  The  four  classes, 
now  enumerated,  may  be  reduced  to  two :  1st,  the 
outer  world,  comprehending  the  multitude  and  the 
rulers;  2d,  the  circle  of  disciples,  who  were  more 
or  less  in  sympathy  with  Christ,  and  ready  to  re- 
ceive instruction  from  His  lips. 

In  narrating  the  parables  the  Evangelists  usually 
indicate  the  kind  of  audience  to  which  they  were 
spoken,  and  stress  is  laid  on  differences  in  this 
respect.  In  regard  to  the  group  of  parables  of 
which  "  the  Sower"  is  first,  our  Lord  gave  a  very 
important  reason  why  He  addressed  such  discourses 
to  the  multitude.  And  in  regard  to  one  parable, 
that  of  the  servants  waiting  for  the  coming  of  their 
Lord,  Peter  asked,  "  Lord,  speakest  thou  this  parable 
to  us,  or  to  all?"  evidently  implying  that  this  was 
an  important  element  for  ascertaining  its  drift  and 
fixing  its  interpretation. 

The  reason  which  our  Lord  gave  for  speaking  in 
parables  to  the  multitude  was  a  solemn  and  startling 
one.  In  their  case.  His  purpose  was  not  simply  to 
reveal  truth,  but  partly  to  veil  it.  In  his  journeys 
He  was  followed  by  a  promiscuous  multitude,  whom 
He  desired  to  sift  like  Gideon's  army,  in  order  that 
He  might  deal  the  more  effectually  with  those  that 
should  be  left.  There  were  many  delicate  points 
connected  with  the  establishment  of  His  kingdom, 
on  which  He  desired  to  make  known  His  views  in 


PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES.  189 

some  form,  but  in  the  circumstances  it  would  not 
have  been  safe  to  fling  out  these  views  carelessly  for 
the  information  of  the  whole  world.  Setting  up  a 
new  economy  which  was  to  embrace  the  world,  He 
had  to  guard  against  needlessly  excitiug  the  jealousy 
or  the  suspicion  of  the  existing  rulers,  whether  civil 
or  ecclesiastical.  Now,  the  form  of  the  parable  was 
such  that  while  careless  and  unspiritual  hearers  saw 
nothing  important  in  it,  it  was  fitted  to  excite  the 
interest  of  those  who  had  spiritual  sympathies,  and 
to  urge  them  to  inquire  earnestly  into  its  deeper 
meaning.  Suppose  that  our  Lord  had  broadly  and 
all  at  once  proclaimed  to  the  world  the  truth 
contained  in  the  words  in  the  parable  of  "the 
Sower," — "  the  field  is  the  world,"  words  indicating 
the  extent  of  the  spiritual  conquest  at  which  He 
aimed, — it  is  hard  to  say  what  might  not  have  fol- 
lowed. But  careless  hearers  thought  little  or  nothing 
on  the  matter;  it  was  only  the  sympathetic  few,  the 
disciples,  whose  interest  was  awakened,  who  came 
to  Christ  desiring  further  explanation,  and  to  whom 
He  announced  the  world-wide  dimensions  of  His 
kingdom,  and  the  way  in  which  it  was  to  grow.  As 
for  the  multitude,  their  attitude  seemed  to  reveal 
the  careless  state  of  their  minds,  and  their  indiffer- 
ence to  spiritual  treasure ; — it  showed  that  they 
were  not  among  those  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  To  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given,"  but  on  the  contrary  among 
those  whose  eyes  were  judicially  blinded,  and  from 
whom  there  should  be  taken  away  even  that  which 
they  had. 

It  may  be  thought  that  if  this  was  the  purpose  of 
some  of  the  parables,  they  cannot  be  regarded  as 


190  PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES. 

having  had  for  their  object  the  elucidation  of  truth. 
But  in  point  of  fact  they  did  elucidate  truth  to  those 
who  studied  them,  and  whose  eye  pierced  the  veil. 
It  was  only  to  the  careless  that  they  conveyed 
nothing ;  to  the  earnest  heart  they  taught,  and  still 
teach,  much  valuable  truth  pertaining  to  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

The  other  mode  of  classifying  the  parables  is  that 
which  has  regard  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
intended. 

I  know  not  liow  many  divisions  of  them  might  be 
suggested  on  this  line,  according  to  the  varied  view 
that  might  be  taken  of  their  purpose.  The  classifi- 
cation which  we  adopt  here  is  simple,  and  confessedly 
general.  We  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice 
our  Lord's  habit  of  viewing  men  both  in  their  indi- 
vidual and  in  their  social  capacity.  That  habit 
appears  in  the  parables.  Certain  of  these  deal  with 
"  the  kingdom  of  heaven," — deal  with  the  followers 
of  Christ  in  their  united  or  social  capacity.  And 
certain  of  them  deal  with  men  individually:  they 
are  designed  to  bring  some  part  of  Divine  truth  to 
bear  directly  on  the  individual  soul  or  conscience. 

I. 

The  parables  that  deal  with  the  kingdom — the 
social  body — are  mainly  expository.  Most  of  them 
are  found  in  Matthew.  For  that  Evangelist  the 
idea  of  the  kingdom  seems  to  have  had  a  peculiar 
attraction. 

To  nearly  every  parable  which  He  records  the  for- 
mula is  prefixed — "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like." 
Even  where  the  parable  is  more  applicable  to  the 


PAKABOLIC  DISCOURSES.  191 

individual  than  to  the  social  body,  it  commonly  has 
this  prefix.  But  the  predominating  bearing  of  the 
parables  recorded  by  Matthew  is  on  the  Church,  the 
one  body  with  many  members. 

Eegarding  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  these  parables 
give  much  information  which  could  not  have  been 
communicated  in  a  direct  form,  except  by  means 
of  lengthened  disquisitions  and  explanations.  No 
single  body  that  had  ever  existed  in  the  world  was 
a  thorough  counterpart  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  or 
fitted  to  convey  a  thoroughly  correct  impression  of 
it.  The  Jewish  Church  was  too  much  identified 
with  the  nation ;  its  ordinances  were  too  carnal, 
and  its  structure  too  rigid,  to  give  a  fair  conception 
of  what  Christ's  society  was  designed  to  be.  It 
seemed  to  our  Lord  most  fitting  to  convey  this  idea 
of  His  Church  in  a  series  of  glimpses,  and  by  means 
of  natural  symbols.  In  this  way  we  have  in  the 
parables  a  prophetic  vision  of  some  of  the  most 
essential  features  of  the  Church. 

(1.)  Thus,  in  regard  to  its  origin.  It  was  not  to  be 
set  up  by  force,  or  by  any  human  authority,  whether 
civil  or  ecclesiastical.  It  was  to  be  a  vital  growth, 
like  that  of  seed  cast  by  the  sower  into  the  ground. 
The  whole  life  of  His  Church  was  to  have  its  root  in 
the  Word.  It  was  to  spring  from  conviction  of  the 
truth  working  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  making 
them  fruit-beariug.  But  this  process  would  not 
proceed  uniformly  without  let  or  hindrance.  The 
result  would  be  very  different  in  each  case  accord- 
ing to  the  circumstances  in  which  the  Word  was 
received.  Great  care  would  be  required  on  the 
part  of  the  husbandmen  to  remove  obstacles,  other- 


192  PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES. 

wise  the  process  would  be  arrested,  and  even  de- 
stroyed. 

But  the  process  of  sowing  would  be  obstructed 
from  another  source.  Efforts  would  be  made  to 
mix  tares  with  the  wheat.  In  other  words,  counter- 
feits would  be  mingled  with  the  genuine  elements 
of  the  Church,  in  order  to  corrupt  it,  and  assimilate 
it  to  the  world.  Nor  would  it  be  possible  for  the 
skill  of  the  husbandmen  wliolly  to  frustrate  this 
attempt.  Men  would  not  see  a  perfectly  pure 
Church  on  earth,  until,  at  the  great  harvest,  the 
Master  would  come  and  separate  the  tares  from  the 
wheat. 

(2.)  Next,  as  to  the  growth  of  the  kingdom.  It 
would  be  partly  visible  and  partly  invisible.  The 
visible  growth  would  resemble  that  of  the  mustard 
plant,  growing  from  the  smallest  of  seeds  to  a  tree 
in  which  birds  made  their  nests.  The  invisible 
growth,  the  silent  influence  of  the  Church,  its  power 
to  transform  society,  to  mould  institutions,  to  purify 
the  moral  atmosphere,  to  elevate  the  tone  of  life, 
would  resemble  the  leaven,  making  its  way  gradually 
and  silently  through  the  lump,  until  the  whole  was 
leavened. 

(3.)  Another  point  relates  to  what  may  be  called 
elements  of  value  in  the  kingdom.  Enlightened 
men  w^ould  come  to  estimate  the  kingdom  very 
highly.  To  them  it  would  become  like  treasure  in 
a  field,  like  a  pearl  of  great  price,  worth  losing 
everything  else  in  order  to  possess  it.  Great  men 
would  express  their  value  for  it  thus — "  Yea,  doubt- 
less, I  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord,  for  whom 


PARABOLIC  DISCOUPtSES.  J  93 

I  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,  and  do  count 
them  but  dung,  that  I  may  gain  Christ  and  be  found 
in  him." 

(4.)  Still  another  point  is  the  service  of  the  king- 
dom. It  is  evident  that  in  our  Lord's  view  this  was 
a  very  important  point.  There  was  great  danger  of 
the  servants  forgetting  that  they  were  but  servants. 
The  absence  of  the  Lord  might  tempt  them  to  make 
their  own  interests  their  end.  In  a  great  variety  of 
parables  our  Lord  strives  to  rectify  this  tendency. 
They  must  remember  their  Lord.  It  is  He  that  has 
called  them  into  the  vineyard,  and  bargained  for 
their  service.  It  is  He  that  has  given  them  their 
talents,  and  bid  them  occupy  until  He  come.  His 
coming  again  is  the  great  consummation  of  the  his- 
tory of  His  Church.  Some  of  them  will  then  be 
found  to  have  been  desperately  unfaithful,  their 
hands  being  stained  with  the  blood  of  the  servants 
whom  He  has  sent  to  gather  the  fruits,  and  even  of 
His  own  Son.  Want  of  vigilance,  forgetfulness  that 
He  is  coming  again,  will  be  the  sin  of  others,  who 
will  be  surprised  in  a  state  of  carelessness  and  dis- 
order w4ien  He  appears.  Some  who  are  not  forget- 
ful of  His  coming  will  be  caught  asleep  wdien  the 
cry  of  the  Bridegroom  is  heard.  Some,  who  have 
had  extraordinary  experience  of  His  forbearance 
and  forgiveness,  will  be  found  tyrannising  over  their 
fellow-servants,  unmindful  of  the  mercy  that  has 
been  shown  to  themselves.  In  the  case  of  some, 
whose  lives  have  been  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits, 
it  wiU  be  seen  that  all  unconsciously  they  have 
been  serving  Christ,  because  they  have  been  kind 
to  His  brethren.     In  the  case  of  others,  the  reverse 

N 


194-  PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES. 

will  appear ;  having  neglected  all  their  opportunities 
of  feeding  the  hungry  and  clothing  the  naked; 
having  lived  in  selfish  ease  and  cold  indifference  to 
the  claims  of  the  needy,  they  will  be  arraigned  for 
neglect  and  disloyalty  toward  the  Lord  Himself,  and 
will  have  the  doom  of  the  negligent  and  heartless 
servant.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  it  was 
towards  the  close  of  His  ministry  that  these  views 
of  service,  responsibility,  and  retribution,  were  ex- 
pounded most  fully  and  urged  most  emphatically. 

The  bearing  of  such  parables  on  the  constitution 
and  life  of  the  Church,  or  general  body  of  Christ's 
followers,  is  apparent ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  they  have  no  lessons  for  the  individual.  Many 
of  them  come  home  very  closely  to  the  individual 
conscience,  and  none  more  so  than  the  large  and 
important  class  which  we  have  grouped  last,  as 
bearing  on  the  service  of  the  kingdom.  And  indeed 
it  must  be  remarked,  that  while  it  is  convenient  to 
view  the  followers  of  Christ  in  their  twofold  capa- 
city— as  individuals,  and  as  members  of  a  community, 
— the  two  aspects  often  run  into  each  other,  and 
cannot  be  wholly  detached  by  any  hard  line. 

II. 

We  find  at  the  same  time  another  class  of 
parables  that  have  less  to  do  with  the  kingdom 
and  more  with  the  individual.  And  as  it  is 
Matthew  who  has  given  the  fullest  account  of  the 
Church- parables,  so  it  is  Luke,  and  in  a  less  degree 
John,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  chiefly  for  reports 
of  the  other  class.  And  as  the  leading  aspects  of 
the   Church    are    illustrated    by  the    parables   of 


PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES.  195 

Matthew,  so  in  those  of  Luke  and  John  we  find 
many  of  the  most  vital  points  connected  with  the 
individual  soul.     Among  these  are — 

(1.)  GocVs  feeling  toward  the  sinner.  The  most 
fatal  obstacle  to  the  return  of  the  sinner  to  God 
arises  from  wrong  ideas  of  God's  feeling  toward 
him.  Usually  wlien  we  are  offended,  and  our 
anger  is  roused,  it  is  a  bitter  anger  that  is  excited, 
ready  to  load  the  offender  with  hatred  and  maledic- 
tion. By  ascribing  a  similar  bitterness  of  feeling 
to  God,  we  widen  the  gulf  -between  Him  and  us, 
and  make  a  mutual  approach  impossible.  It  is  of 
vital  importance  to  know  that  the  anger  of  God, 
directed  against  our  sin,  has  no  bitterness  in  it, 
but  is  accompanied  with  warm  love  and  lon^^ino- 
toward  our  persons.  This  is  illustrated  by  the 
parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  so  beautifully  and 
powerfully  that  it  would  seem  as  if  nothing  could 
ever  be  added.  It  is  often  counted  the  very  prince 
or  pearl  of  parables,  giving  a  revelation  of  God's 
heart  that  must  leave  all  without  excuse  who  are 
not  convinced  by  it  that  "  God  is  love." 

(2.)  The  convicted  sinner  s  feeling  tovmrd  God  is 
set  forth  in  a  parable  hardly  less  complete,— that  of 
the  Pharisee  and  the  Publican.  And  the  principle 
of  contrast  is  brought  in  to  heighten  the  effect. 
The  Pharisee's  prayer  is  a  wonderful  revelation  of 
the  self-righteous  heart.  Things  are  not  far  wrong. 
Anything  that  was  wrong  has  been  easily  put  right, 
and  the  man's  life  is  so  good  that  he  can  only  thank 
God  for  its  excellence.  But  the  man  knows  nothing 
of  sin.  The  publican  has  been  convicted,  and  has 
felt   himself  undone.      He   can   only  throw   him- 


196  PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES. 

self  on  God's  mercy  :  "  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a 
simier !" 

(3.)  God  a  forgiving  God.  The  parable  of  the 
Two  Debtors  shows  that  His  forgiving  grace  is  bound- 
less. Ten  thousand  talents  was  a  prodigious  sum 
for  any  man  to  forgive.  But  it  was  only  the  sym- 
bol of  God's  forgivingness.  "  Where  sin  abounded, 
grace  did  much  more  abound." 

(4.)  Christ  the  vmy  to  the  Father,  and  the  propitia- 
tion for  sin,  are  shown  in  the  parable  of  the  Good 
Shepherd.  He  is  "  the  door  "  of  the  sheepfold,  and 
"  the  good  Shepherd  giveth  his  life  for  the  sheep." 

(5.)  Christ  the  source  of  all  spiritual  life  and 
strength.  This  is  taught  in  the  parable  of  the  Vine 
and  the  Branches.  "  As  the  branch  cannot  bear 
fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine ;  no  more 
can  ye,  except  ye  abide  in  me."  "  If  a  man  abide 
not  in  me,  he  is  cast  forth  as  a  branch,  and  withereth ; 
and  men  take  them,  and  cast  them  into  the  fire,  and 
they  are  burned." 

(6.)  This  life  vitally  connected  with  that  lohich  is 
to  come.  Nothing  more  impressive  in  this  point  of 
view  can  be  conceived  than  the  parable  of  the  Eich 
Man  and  Lazarus.  It  is  one  of  the  parables  to  which 
men  listen  with  breathless  interest.  Less  striking, 
but  bearing  on  the  same  point,  are  the  parables  of 
the  Unjust  Steward,  and  the  Pounds. 

(7.)  Prayer  not  only  an  incunibent  duty,  hut  a 
Uessed  privilege.  This  is  shown  in  the  parable  of  the 
Importunate  Widow,  and  also  in  the  illustration  of 
the  father  who  will  not  give  his  son  a  stone  when 
he  asks  bread. 

(8.)  The  Christian  duty  of  neighbourliness  is  brought 


PARABOLIC  DISCOUESES.  197 

out  with  consummate  art  in  the  parable  of  the  Good 
Samaritan.  The  heart  in  which  God  dwells  is  tender 
and  sympathetic;  it  "rejoices  with  them  that  do 
rejoice,  and  it  weeps  with  them  that  weep." 

Thus  we  see  that,  unsystematic  though  the  ar- 
rangement be,  many  of  the  leading  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity are  embodied  in  the  parables.  And  the  simili- 
tudes are  all  drawn  from  familiar  objects.  Whether 
they  be  furnished  by  the  operations  of  nature,  or  by 
the  ways  of  men,  they  are  level  to  every  capacity, 
because  familiar  to  every  mind.  By  being  linked  to 
objects  of  familiar  interest  and  frequent  occurrence, 
the  truths  which  they  teach  are  often  suggested  to 
the  mind. 

It  is  plain  that  Christ's  mind,  so  quick  in  per- 
ceiving analogies,  and  so  ready  in  throwing  them 
into  suitable  form,  might  have  produced  parables  by 
the  hundred,  if  He  had  been  so  disposed.  The 
question,  therefore,  naturally  presents  itself,— On 
what  principle  did  He  select  the  parables  which 
have  been  given  us  ?  What  end  had  He  in  view  in 
fviving  these  ?  Other  questions  will  follow  this : 
When  and  where  did  our  Lord  prepare  His  parables  ? 
And  what  is  the  lesson,  the  permanent  homiletical 
lesson,  for  preachers  and  other  Christian  instructors 
of  the  present  day,  to  be  deduced  from  the  great  use 
He  made  of  this  form  of  address  ? 

First,  as  to  our  Lord's  principle  of  selection.  From 
what  has  been  already  said  it  will  be  seen  that 
there  were  certain  great  truths,  bearing  on  His 
kingdom  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  welfare  of 
souls  on  the  other,  which  He  deemed  it  right  to 
clothe  in  this  form  of  speech.     Looking  round  the 


198  PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES. 

whole  spiritual  horizon,  as  it  were,  considering  what 
men  needed,  and  what  He  desired  them  to  become, 
our  Lord  fixed  in  His  mind  on  certain  truths  as 
those  that  were  most  adapted  to  His  purpose,  and 
determined  to  find  for  these  truths,  among  the 
things  familiar  to  men,  analogies  that  would  help 
to  impress  them.  We  see  in  this  a  striking  proof 
of  the  grasp  and  penetration  of  His  mind.  To  form 
an  estimate  of  the  condition  and  tendencies  of  man, 
and  of  the  truths  that  were  fitted  to  meet  that  con- 
dition, such  that  what  He  threw  out  would  form  for 
all  time  the  best  food  for  the  hungry,  the  best  guide 
for  the  perplexed,  and  the  best  mould  for  Christian 
character  and  means  of  spiritual  influence,  was  a  won- 
derful effort  of  creative  foresight  and  power.  When 
the  earth  was  launched  on  its  orbit,  with  the  precise 
mass,  velocity,  and  distance  from  the  sun  that  were 
adapted  to  keep  it  moving  with  undeviating  uni- 
formity for  myriads  of  years ;  when  the  animal  and 
vegetable  substances  were  so  balanced  as  to  supply 
each  other's  wants  from  age  to  age ;  when  man  and 
other  animals  were  formed  with  organisations  to 
be  reproduced  generation  after  generation  in  un- 
diminished vigour  and  activity — in  all  such  opera- 
tions there  was  a  wonderful  effort  of  creative  fore- 
thought and  wisdom.  But  even  this  grand  reach 
of  thought  and  plan  is  eclipsed  by  that  of  Christ, 
selecting  the  truths  that  would  be  needed  to  mould 
men's  minds  and  hearts  through  all  coming  ages, 
and  the  very  forms  of  illustration  by  which  these 
truths  might  be  launched  most  advantageously  on 
their  momentous  career. 

This   consideration  suggests  the  answer  to  the 


PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES.  199 

next  question — When  and  where  did  our  Lord  pre- 
pare His  parables  ?  As  He  brought  them  out,  they 
have  all  the  look  of  finished  products,  of  analo- 
gies that  had  long  before  been  apprehended  by 
His  mind,  and  verified  by  much  observation  and 
thought.  It  is  not  for  us  to  penetrate  the  region  in 
which  Jesus  as  a  man  came  into  closest  communion 
with  the  Father,  deriving  from  Him  all  that  was 
requisite  for  His  several  functions  of  Prophet,  Priest, 
and  King.  But  thus  much  we  may  well  believe : 
that  in  the  days  of  profound  thought  at  Nazareth 
our  Lord's  human  mind  would  be  occupied  with  the 
great  truths  pertaining  to  His  Church,  and  like- 
wise to  the  souls  of  His  people,  which  His  public 
rSinistry  was  to  proclaim,  and  with  the  parables  or 
other  illustrations  under  which  these  truths  were  to 
be  set  forth.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  that  He  may 
have  settled,  long  before,  the  parable  that  would  be 
best  suited  to  illustrate  some  particular  truth,  so 
that,  when  the  occasion  came,  the  parable  would  be 
ready.  Just  as  we  must  believe  that  long  before 
the  last  Supper  He  must  have  determined  to  insti- 
tute a  rite  of  commemoration,  and  must  have  settled 
the  precise  terms  in  which  He  would  hand  it  down 
to  the  Church  of  aU  future  ages,  so  we  can  hardly 
help  thinking  that  the  same  preparation  must  have 
been  made  in  reference  to  all  the  great  truths 
which  He  was  to  set  rolling  through  the  ages  in 
their  chariots  of  illustration.  We  speak  with  re- 
serve of  matters  on  which  we  have  received  no 
direct  communication.  But  if  our  view  be  right, 
does  it  not  throw  a  new  light  on  that  feeling  of 
serene  content  with  which  our  Lord  could  say  at 


200  PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES. 

last, "  I  have  finished  the  work  which  thou  gavest  me 
to  do ; "  and,  "  I  have  given  them  the  words  which 
thou  gavest  me  "  ?  Of  all  the  great  truths  which  He 
had  received  from  the  Father,  to  be  communicated 
before  His  death,  there  remained  not  one  which  He 
had  not  now  made  known,  and  which  He  had  not 
clothed  in  an  appropriate  garb.  He  had  preached 
righteousness  in  the  great  congregation ;  He  had  not 
refrained  His  speech ;  He  had  not  concealed  God's 
loving-kindness  nor  His  truth  from  the  great  con- 
gregation. In  that,  as  in  all  other  departments  of 
His  work.  His  task  had  been  completed,  and  His 
soul  was  at  rest. 

But  what  a  different  feeling  was  this  of  Christ's 
from  that  which  other  men  have  in  the  retrospect 
of  their  work !  Who  among  us,  as  he  draws  nigh  to 
the  close,  it  may  be,  of  a  long  life,  but  has  to  mingle 
innumerable  regrets  and  confessions  of  inefficiency 
with  his  acknowledgments  of  God's  mercy  for 
having  enabled  him  to  do  a  little  ?  Who  ever  comes 
up  even  to  his  own  ideal  of  useful  service?  We 
have  to  confess  that  we  are  unprofitable  servants ; 
we  have  to  bring  the  very  best  of  our  services  to  be 
sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  Christ ;  and  it  is  only 
the  sense  of  His  infinite  grace  and  merit  that  keeps 
us  from  sinking  in  despair.  There  is  something 
even  pathetic  in  many  a  good  man's  verdict  on  his 
own  efforts — 

"And  yet  to  mean  so  well  and  fall  so  foul." 

But  with  Jesas  it  was  quite  otherwise.  The  retro- 
spect of  His  life  discovered  no  truth  omitted,  no 
message  neglected,  no  form  of  illustration,  no  vehicle 
of  truth,  inadequate  or  imperfect.     Who  shall  duly 


PARABOLIC  DISCOURSES.  201 

think  of  this  and  not  confess,  "  Truly  this  man  was 
the  Son  of  God"? 

Our  last  question  respects  the  lesson  to  be  derived 
by  us  for  our  ministry  from  our  Lord's  love  of  the 
parable.  We  have  already  said  that  it  is  not  in  its 
very  form  that  we  shall  do  best  to  copy  it.  But 
there  is  something  for  us  to  learn  beyond  the  gene- 
ral truth  that  illustration  ought  to  form  a  chief  attri- 
bute of  all  our  instructions.  We  are  surely  taught 
to  he  prepared  with  suitable  illustrations — suitable 
both  to  ourselves  and  to  others — of  the  chief  truths 
which  we  are  called  to  proclaim.  We  know  what  is 
meant  by  "  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  faith."  The 
duty  arises  from  Christ's  example  to  have  some 
well-considered  illustration  in  our  treasury  by  which 
to  explain  and  commend  each  of  these  doctrines. 
How  should  we  illustrate  justification  by  faith? 
How  should  we  bring  home  to  the  intellect  and  to 
the  heart  the  doctrine  of  substitution  ?  How  should 
we  distinguish  between  sanctification  and  justifica- 
tion ?  How  should  we  illustrate  the  need  of  purity  ? 
How  should  we  show  the  value  and  efficacy  of 
prayer  ?  We  say  again,  It  is  our  duty  to  cultivate 
the  faculty  that  discovers  analogies ;  and,  with  this 
view,  we  ought  often  to  bring  together  the  truths  of 
Ptevelation  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  processes  of 
nature  and  the  ways  of  men  on  the  other.  In  some 
minds,  however,  this  may  be  a  very  difficult  thing. 
In  the  case  of  such  does  it  not  become  them  to  go 
to  their  Master  and  ask  from  Him  vehicles  for  con- 
veying the  truths  He  has  already  given  ?  Must  not 
the  prayer  be  pleasing  to  Christ  that  springs  from 
the  desire  to  make  our  teaching  in  its  very  form  the 


202  PARABOLIC- DISCOURSES. 

counterpart  of  His, — to  make  it  rich  with  such 
illustrations  as  those  which  sparkled  in  His  dis- 
courses? We  have  known  cases  in  which  this 
power  was  asked  in  prayer,  and  with  remarkable 
results.  "Take  heed,"  our  Lord  once  said  in  an- 
other connection,  "  that  ye  despise  not  the  least  of 
these  little  ones."  So  let  us  take  heed  that  we 
despise  not  the  least  of  those  helps  by  which  truth 
is  rendered  effective.  If  our  Lord  took  such  pains 
to  clothe  truth  in  the  dress  of  figure,  can  any  of  His 
servants  be  justified  in  casting  it  carelessly  aside  ? 


CHAPTER  XII. 

PUBLIC  DISCOURSES — THE  SEEMON  ON  THE  MOUNT. 

In  one  obvious  respect  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
lies  beyond  the  reach  of  imitation,  and  e^^n  the 
attempt  to  imitate — in  its  thoroughly  Oriental  char- 
acter. At  the  first  blush  it  is  seen  to  be  constructed 
in  a  way  that  differs  fundamentally  from  the  sermon 
of  the  West.  It  wants  the  continuity  and  flow 
which  we  always  look  for  in  a  religious  discourse, 
and  is  made  up  of  proverbial  and  antithetic  state- 
ments, each  of  which  is  more  like  the  germ  of  a 
separate  discourse  than  a  part  of  one  continuous 
address.  It  is  more  like  a  wonderful  mosaic,  like 
the  essence  of  many  discourses  pieced  together,  than 
a  single  sermon,  with  the  three  things  which  it  is 
said  every  sermon  ought  to  have, — a  beginning,  a 
middle,  and  an  end.  The  ability  to  frame  and 
deliver  such  a  discourse  implies  no  small  share  of 
that  composure  of  spirit  and  calmness  of  manner 
which  sit  more  readily  on  the  Oriental  than  on  the 
Western  public  speaker.  It  presents  in  a  remark- 
able degree  two  features  of  Oriental  discourse  which 
might  almost  be  considered  incompatible — terseness 
and  luxuriance.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  terseness 
with  which  its  truths  are  stated :  "  Blessed  are  the 

203 


204  PUBLIC  DISCOURSES. 

poor  in  spirit:  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
"  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.  A  city  set  on  an  hill 
cannot  be  hid."  "  Where  your  treasure  is,  there  will 
your  heart  be  also."  Yet  the  exuberance  of  the 
Oriental  fancy  weaves  round  these  terse  sayings  an 
almost  endless  festoonery  of  metaphor  and  symbol. 

It  is  interesting  to  inquire  into  the  final  cause  of 
this.  Why  was  the  world's  teacher  so  thoroughly 
Oriental,  and  why  were  His  most  elaborate  lessons 
cast  in  so  Oriental  a  form?  One  answer  to  this 
question  is  obvious : — Truth  presented  in  the  Oriental 
form  takes  the  firmest  hold  alike  of  the  memory  and 
the  imagination.  Its  compact  terseness  makes  it 
handy  for  the  memory,  while  its  luxuriant  illustra- 
tion adapts  it  to  the  imagination.  This  form,  more- 
over, is  suitable  to  the  purposes  of  a  revelation  which, 
in  its  very  aspect,  must  be  authoritative,  and  which, 
for  practical  purposes,  must  be  frequently  quoted 
and  made  use  of  in  small  portions.  The  terse  pro- 
verbial form  carries  authority  in  its  very  structure  ; 
it  challenges  belief,  it  forbids  all  question  or  denial. 
Following  the  emphatic  "  Verily,  I  say  unto  you," 
the  short  utterances  of  our  Lord  lodge  themselves  at 
once  in  the  conscience  and  the  heart.  The  Western 
style  of  preaching  seldom  admits  of  short  quotations 
— extracts  contained  in  a  single  line.  Were  one 
called  to  carry  in  one's  head  a  sermon  by  Chalmers, 
or  Liddon,  or  Spurgeon,  and  to  quote  and  apply  it, 
bit  by  bit,  on  a  thousand  occasions  of  ordinary 
life,  the  task  would  be  found  impossible.  Except 
Matthew  Henry,  hardly  any  preacher  or  commentator 
has  appeared  who  could  condense  his  thoughts  into 
pithy  clauses  of  half-a-dozen  words,  easily  quoted 


SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT.  205 

and  easily  remembered.  In  Avhatever  way  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  may  have  been  first  delivered, 
nothing  could  be  better  adapted  for  transferring 
practical  truth  to  the  memory,  the  conscience,  and 
the  heart. 

It  is  quite  remarkable,  indeed,  how  many  expres- 
sions in  the  sermon  have  become  "  household  words," 
indigenous,  as  it  were,  in  our  very  language  and 
Literature.  The  candle  under  a  bushel,  the  mote  and 
the  beam,  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,  casting  pearls 
before  swine,  the  single  eye,  serving  two  masters, 
the  right  hand  not  knowing  what  the  left  hand 
doeth,  sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof, 
are  not  merely  household  words,  but  the  ideas 
represented  by  them  have  become  practically  un- 
challengeable ;  they  are  moral  axioms,  admitted  alike 
by  friend  and  foe. 

And  thus  we  see  another  advantage  of  the 
Oriental  method.  Peculiar  though  it  be,  it  presents 
great  facilities  of  combination ;  it  may  be  transfused 
very  readily  into  other  forms  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion. A  Western  mind  can  take  the  gems  from 
Eastern  discourses,  and  set  them  without  loss  of 
lustre  in  the  more  flowing  addresses  of  the  West. 
He  may  give  them  as  quotations,  or  he  may  melt 
them  down  and  mingle  their  substance  with  the 
train  of  his  own  reflections.  Thus,  let  the  West 
advance  as  it  may  to  new  developments  in  every 
department  of  knowledge,  there  always  remains  a 
sense  of  obligation  to  the  East — a  feeling  that  from 
it  have  come  to  us  the  seeds  and  elements  of  our 
best  possessions. 

One  other  remark  ere  we  pass  from  this  aspect 


206  PUBLIC  DISCOURSES. 

of  the  subject.  Our  Lord  is  more  Oriental  than 
any  New  Testament  writer.  ,  The  apostles  are  less 
Oriental  than  Christ,  and  the  early  Christian  writers 
are  less  Oriental  than  the  apostles.  St.  Paul  is  the 
connecting  link  between  the  two  styles.  The  truths 
that  came  first  in  the  detached  Eastern  form  are 
reproduced  by  him  with  more  of  the  logical  con- 
tinuity and  flow  of  Western  speech.  Perhaps  this 
makes  the  contrast  between  our  Lord's  teaching  and 
St.  Paul's  appear  greater  than  it  really  is.  In  any 
comparison  of  the  two,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the 
difference  between  truth  taught  by  analogy,  parable 
and  proverb,  the  favourite  methods  of  our  Lord,  and 
truth  presented  in  accordance  with  the  dialectic 
process  which  came  so  naturally  to  the  apostle. 

Have  we  not  in  these  facts  a  striking  incidental 
proof  of  the  authenticity  of  our  Lord's  history  and 
teaching,  as  delineated  in  the  Gospels  ?  He  belonged 
to  that  age,  and  so  did  the  writers  of  the  Gospels. 
It  is  ridiculous  to  think  of  writers  of  the  second 
century  developing  a  teacher  whose  style  of  thought 
and  mode  of  expression  were  so  widely  different 
from  their  own. 

Viewing  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  homiletically, 
we  remark  of  it  that  it  is  in  the  strictest  sense  an 
address  to  an  audience,  not  a  mere  essay  or  treatise 
delivered  hefore  them.  From  first  to  last  the  idea  of 
the  audience  is  present  to  the  speaker.  Though  He 
begins  by  speaking  aloiit  people,  using  the  third 
person  ("  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven"),  we  see  that  very  early  in 
His  address  He  changes  the  they  into  you  ;  indeed, 
at  an  early  point  He  repeats  a  statement,  apparently 


SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT.  207 

for  the  very  purpose  of  making  this  transition: 
"  Blessed  are  they  that  are  persecuted  for  righteous- 
ness' sake — blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile 
you,  and  persecute  you."  The  second  person,  once 
attained,  is  for  the  most  part  kept  up  all  through, 
and,  indeed,  there  are  many  times  when  even  the 
plural  ?/e  is  not  close  enough,  and  when  it  is  exchanged 
for  the  more  personal  thou:  "If  thou  bring  thy 
gift  to  the  altar,  and  there  rememberest  that  thy 
brother  hath  ought  against  thee ;  leave  there  thy  gift 
before  the  altar,  and  go  thy  way  ;  first  be  reconciled 
to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and  offer  thy  gift." 
This  is  an  instructive  fact  for  preachers,  indicating 
in  the  first  place  that  true  preaching  is  a  soul-to-soul 
intercourse — is  the  transaction  of  important  business 
between  the  preacher  and  the  individual  members 
of  his  audience  ;  and  further,  that  in  every  instance 
of  thoroughly  successful  preaching  a  process  goes 
on  of  getting  nearer  to  the  hearts  of  the  hearers, 
corresponding  to  the  movement  of  an  earnest  man 
in  conversation  who  comes  physically  closer  and 
closer  to  those  to  whom  he  appeals :  holding  them 
as  it  were  by  the  eye — the  closest  grip  of  all, 

"  He  holds  him  with  his  shining  hand, 

*  There  was  a  ship,'  quoth  he  : 
*  Hold  off !  unhand  me,  greybeard  loon  ! ' 

Eftsoons  his  hand  dropt  he. 
He  held  him  with  his  glittering  eye, 

The  wedding  guest  stood  still. 
And  listens  like  a  three-year  child, 

The  mariner  hath  his  will.'" 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  has  not  only  no  text, 
but  not  even  any  announcement  of  a  subject.     In 


208  PUBLIC  DISCOURSES. 

the  circumstances,  we  are  probably  to  regard  it  as 
an  exposition  of  principles  connected  with  the  king- 
dom of  heaven — of  rules,  aims,  and  characteristics 
demanding  the  attention  of  all  who  desired  admis- 
sion  into  the  heavenly  fellowship.  Five  main 
topics  divide  the  discourse,  but  they  are  nowhere 
announced  : — 1.  The  character  and  privileges  of  the 
kingdom  (Matt.  v.  1-16).  2.  Its  rule  or  discipline, 
which  is  substantially  the  old  moral  law,  but  more 
spiritually  and  searchingly  applied  (chap.  v.  17-48). 

3.  The  service  of  the  kingdom,  consisting  not  of 
outward  forms  ostentatiously  observed,  but  of  inward 
worship  and  a  thoroughly  truthful  and  filial  spirit 
towards  the  Great  Head  of  the  kingdom  (chap.  vi.). 

4.  The  social  spirit  of  the  kingdom — its  spirit  of 
brotherhood ;  inasmuch  as  all  are  the  children  of  one 
Father,  they  ought  to  avoid  the  spirit  of  censorious- 
ness,  not  casting  out  motes  from  their  brother's  eye, 
but  observing  the  golden  rule,  "  Whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  also  unto  them  " 
(chap.  vii.  1-5).  And  5.  The  fruit  of  the  kingdom, 
suggesting  a  most  vital  and  discriminating  test,  to  be 
applied  at  last  to  all  professing  members,  of  which 
the  effect  will  be  to  separate  the  real  from  the 
fictitious,  to  bring  forward  the  one  for  reward  and 
the  other  for  condemnation  (chap.  vii.  6  to  end). 
Stated  more  briefly  we  have — 1.  The  character;  2. 
The  rule ;  3.  The  service ;  4.  The  spirit ;  and  5.  The 
fruit  of  the  kingdom. 

But  our  present  purpose  does  not  require  us  to 
go  into  these  divisions.  Our  object  is  to  bring  out 
the  chief  homiletical  features  of  the  discourse ;  and 
for  that  purpose  it  will  be  best  to  advert, — first,  to 


SERMOX  ON  THE  MOUNT.  209 

some  of  its  peculiarities  of  structure ;  and,  second,  to 
some  of  its  peculiarities  of  suhstance. 

I.  Structure.  . 

1.  Here  first  we  notice  its  remarkable  symmetry. 
This  great  feature  of  Oriental  discourse  is  more 
thoroughly  and  elaborately  worked  out  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  than  in  any  other  of  our 
Lord's  longer  discourses.  As  has  been  shown  by 
Professor  Forbes  in  his  Symmetrical  Structure  of 
Scripture,  it  exemplifies  that  method  of  parallelism 
or  symmetry  which  we  find  in  the  poetical  and 
other  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  such  as  the 
Psalms,  the  Proverbs,  and  the  Prophecies.  The 
Beatitudes  furnish  the  earliest  specimen.  We  do 
not  inquire  w^hether  their  number  be  properly 
seven,  the  perfect  number,  as  some  contend;  the 
eighth  beatitude  so-  called  being  in  their  view  not 
a  real  one,  because  it  is  not,  like  the  rest,  associated 
with  a  spiritual  grace.  But  the  symmetry  of  the 
other  beatitudes  strikes  every  eye;  the  several 
verses  all  beginning  alike,  and  all  of  them,  in  their 
second  clauses,  giving  a  reason  for  the  affirmation 
of  the  first.  But  there  are  many  other  instances 
of  parallelism  : — 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth  :  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world. 
If  thy  right  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,   and  cast  it  from 

thee,  etc. 
If  thy  right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  it  from  thee,  etc. 
If  ye  love  them  that  love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ? 

Do  not  even  the  publicans  the  same  ? 
If  ye  salute  your  brethren  only,  what  do  ye  more  than  others  ? 
Do  not  even  the  publicans  so  ? 
0 


210  PUBLIC  DISCOURSES. 

Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air  :  for  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they 
reap,  nor  gather  into  barns  ;  yet  your  heavenly  Father 
feedeth  them. 

Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow ;  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin  :  and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  That  even 
Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these. 

Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you  ;    For  every  one  that  asketh,  re- 

ceiveth  ; 

Seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  And  he  that  seeketh,  findeth  : 

Knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  And  to  him  that  knocketh,  it 
unto  you.  shall  be  opened. 

We  observe  the  same  structure  in  our  Lord's 
treatment  of  topics  that  are  handled  at  some  length 
in  the  sermon.  Thus,  in  the  fifth  chapter,  the 
sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  commandments  are 
treated  symmetrically  :  the  old  idea  of  their  im- 
port being  uniformly  prefixed  by,  ''  Ye  have  heard 
that  it  hath  been  said  by  them  of  old  time ;"  and 
the  new  by,  "  But  I  say  unto  you."  So  also,  in 
expounding  the  service  of  the  kingdom :  the  three 
things — almsgiving,  fasting,  and  prayer — are  treated 
symmetrically ;  first  the  current  abuses  of  these 
are  indicated  ;  then  the  manner  in  which  our  Lord 
desired  that  they  should  be  severally  observed. 

The  circumstance  of  so  remarkable  attention 
being  paid  to  symmetry  in  this  discourse  is  instruc- 
tive to  preachers  of  all  time.  For  though  it  be  true 
that  such  symmetry  was  peculiarly  Oriental,  yet  it 
was  the  means  to  an  end  which  is  not  Oriental 
merely,  but  universal.  It  was  a  remarkable  help 
towards  arresting  and  impressing  the  hearers.  It 
shows  what  care  our  Lord  must  have  taken  with 
the  structure  of  His  more  elaborate  discourses. 
Though  they  have  no  appearance  of  art  or  elabora- 
tion, they  are  distinguished  by  properties  which  we 


SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT.  211 

cannot  attain  without  much  painstaking  care.  The 
perfection  of  art  is  to  conceal  itself.  Ars  est  celare 
arteiii.  If  it  was  through  the  exercise  of  His  human 
faculties  that  our  Lord  constructed  His  discourses, 
we  cannot  think  of  such  exquisite  symmetry  and 
finish  of  style  but  as  tlie  result  of  a  purpose  not 
only  to  find  words  for  His  thoughts,  but  to  find  the 
very  fittest  words  that  language  supplied.  The 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  a  perpetual  rebuke  to 
flabby,  wordy,  uncouth,  clumsy  discourse.  The 
Lord's  Prayer  is  a  perpetual  rebuke  to  loose,  ram- 
bling, unsymmetrical,  unrhythmical  devotions.  If 
the  example  of  our  Lord  is  to  furnish  a  rule,  care- 
lessness of  style,  on  the  part  of  the  messengers  of 
the  Cross,  is  at  once  discreditable  and  a  source  of 
inefficiency.^ 

1  No  words  have  been  more  misapplied  than  those  in  1 
Cor.  ii.  1,  4 — "  And  I,  brethren,  when  I  came  to  yon,  came  not 
with  excellency  of  speech,  or  of  wisdom,  declaring  unto  you 
the  testimony  of  God.  .  .  .  And  my  speech  and  my  preach- 
ing was  not  with  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in 
demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power."  From  these  words  it 
has  often  been  inferred  that  a  rude,  uncultured  way  of  putting 
the  Gospel  message  is  not  only  no  drawback,  but  an  actual 
help  to  efficiency.  But  surely  St.  Paul  could  never  have 
meant  to  lay  down  a  rule  which  should  contradict  his  own 
practice.  For  although  at  times,  when  he  is  rushing  on  im- 
petuously towards  the  close  of  an  argument,  his  language  is 
unfinished  and  elliptical,  yet  on  most  occasions  it  is  singu- 
larly select  and  beautiful.  Many  passages  in  his  writings  are 
models  of  eloquent,  expressive,  most  beautiful  composition. 
It  is  evident  to  every  fair  reader  that  what  is  stigmatised  as 
"  excellency  of  speech,  or  of  wisdom,"  and  "  enticing  words 
of  man's  wisdom,"  is,  something  opposed  to,  and  subversive 
of,  Divine  wisdom.  Beyond  doubt,  what  is  deprecated  is  the 
way  in  vogue  among  the  philosophers  of  developing  all  truth 
from  the  human  reason,  as  opposed  to  the  humble  reception  of 
truth  as  God's  revelation.  Like  other  writers  of  Scripture, 
Paul  spoke  as  he  was  moved  by  the   Holy  Ghost ;  but  from 


212  PUBLIC  DISCOURSES. 

In  noticing  the  symmetrical  character  of  the 
sermon,  we  ought  to  pay  special  regard  to  the  ele- 
ment of  contrast  which  pervades  it.  Contrast  is  a 
remarkable  mode  of  giving  to  statements  a  definite 
outline  and  an  emphatic  form.  It  is  usually 
managed  by  the  pronoun  hut : — 

I  am  not  come  to  destroy — but  to  fulfil. 

Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  on  earth  :  .  .  . 

But  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven.  .  .  . 
If  thine  eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light. 
But  if  thine  eye  be  evil,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of 
darkness. 
"Wide  is  the  gate,   and  broad  is  the  way,  that  leadeth  to  de- 
struction, and  many  there  be  that  go  in  thereat : 

Because  strait  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way,  that 
leadeth  to  life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it. 

2.  Another  very  obvious  feature  in  tlie  structure 
of  the  sermon  is  the  abundant  use  of  illustration. 
Himgering  and  thirsting  after  righteousness — the 
salt  of  the  earth — the  salt  that  has  lost  its  savour — 
a  city  set  on  an  hill — treasures  where  thieves  do  not 
break  through  nor  steal — serving  two  masters — the 
lilies  of  the  field  and  the  fowls  of  the  air — Solomon  in 
all  his  glory — the  mote  and  the  beam — pearls  before 
swine — the  strait  gate  and  the  narrow  way — wolves 
in  sheep's  clothing — grapes  of  thorns  and  figs  of 
thistles — the  house  on  the  rock  and  the  house  on 
the  sand.  One  hardly  realises  till  one  makes  the 
collection  how  figures  stud  this  sermon  like  stars 
in  the  Milky  "Way.  It  is  remarkable  too,  that  they 
do  not  create  any  impression  of  superficiality,  nor 

Genesis  to  Revelation  it  is  apparent  that  the  style  consecrated 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  is  not  rough,  uncouth,  and  unsymmetrical, 
but  clear,  elegant,  eloquent,  and  always  impressive. 


SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT.  213 

do  they,  like  some  of  the  sermons  of  Jeremy  Taylor 
for  instance,  weary  us  by  their  excessive  abundance. 
The  reason  is,  that  there  is  so  much  profound  truth 
under  them.  They  illustrate  without  overlaying. 
Compactness  and  richness  are  equally  remarkable 
in  the  sermon ;  it  is  like  those  structures  in  nature, 
which,  though  hardly  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  turn 
out,  under  the  microscope,  to  be  little  worlds,  ex- 
liibiting  wonderful  contrivance,  great  simplicity, 
and  an  exquisite  beauty  and  finish  in  every  part. 

3.  A  third  feature  in  the  structure  of  the  sermon 
is  its  appeal  to  the  various  faculties  of  the  soul.  It  is 
not  all  addressed  to  the  reason,  or  to  the  conscience, 
or  to  any  single  faculty  of  the  mind ;  it  appeals 
to  all.  It  appeals  to  instinct,  e.g.  to  our  instinctive 
love  of  life  and  comfort :  "  It  is  better  for  thee  that 
one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and  not  that  thy 
whole  body  should  be  cast  into  hell."  The  reason- 
ing faculty  is  called  in :  "If  ye  that  are  evil  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your  children,  hoio  much 
more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good 
things  unto  them  that  ask  him  V  Conscience  is 
summoned  to  judge :  "  "Wliy  beholdest  thou  the 
mote  in  thy  brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not  the 
beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye  ? "  Our  fears  are 
addressed :  "  AgTee  with  thine  adversary  quickly, 
whilst  thou  art  in  the  way  with  him ;  lest  at  any 
time  the  adversary  deliver  thee  to  the  judge,  and 
the  judge  deliver  thee  to  the  ofiicer,  and  thou  be 
cast  into  prison."  Hope  is  not  allowed  to  slumber : 
"Blessed  are  they  that  mourn:  for  they  shall  be  com- 
forted." Of  appeals  to  the  imagination  we  need  say 
nothing ;  for  every  figure  is  an  appeal  to  the  imagi- 


214  PUBLIC  DISCOURSE?. 

nation;  and  the  exercise  of  the  imagination,  which 
the  sermon  encourages  so  abundantly,  is  not  only 
instructive,  but  also  deb'ghtful. 

II.  Substance. 

Passing  now  to  notice  the  substance  of  the  sermon, 
we  may  first  advert  to  what  has  been  a  stumbling- 
block  to  some — the  fact  that  it  contains  no  such  dis- 
tinct announcement  of  the  way  of  salvation  as  does 
the  conversation  with  Mcodemus,  or  even  with  the 
woman  of  Samaria.  Some  go  so  far  as  to  say  that 
the  sermon  does  not  belong  to  the  new  covenant, 
but  to  the  old — to  the  period  before,  not  the  period 
after,  the  death  of  Christ.  A  single  word  to  vindi- 
cate its  scope  and  character  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

Let  us  observe,  then,  that  it  is  addressed  to  dis- 
ciples. "  Seeing  the  multitudes,  he  went  up  into  a 
mountain,"  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  sifting  His 
audience ;  "and  when  he  was  set,  his  discijples " 
— those  who  were  so  earnest  that  the  mountain 
could  not  separate  them — "came  unto  him."  To 
this  more  select  and  instructed  audience  our  Lord 
unfolded  the  character  of  His  kingdom,  showed  the 
work  to  which  their  energies  were  to  be  given,  and 
the  change  on  the  face  of  the  world  which  they  were 
to  aim  at  producing.  The  sermon  was  the  pattern 
that  had  to  be  worked  out,  the  ideal  that  had  to  be 
realised,  the  theory  of  life  that  had  to  be  turned 
into  practice.  It  was  an  ideal  for  the  community 
as  much  as  direction  for  the  individual.  It  was  a 
prophecy  as  well  as  an  exhortation — a  forecast  of 
the  results  of  the  work  with  which  the  name  of 
Jesus  was  to  be  identified.     If  it  was  only  an  ideal 


SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT.  215 

then,  it  is  in  part  a  reality  now.  Living  Christianity 
has  always  been  in  vital  contact  with  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  It  is  a  picture  of  the  moral  millen- 
nium toward  which  the  Church  is  ever  stretching 
its  hands.  It  is  the  pattern  of  the  New  Jerusalem ; 
here  are  all  the  materials  for  the  foundations  of 
precious  stones,  the  gates  of  pearl,  and  the  streets 
of  transparent  gold.  To  realise  this  ideal  is  to  hear 
the  proclamation,  "  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is 
^vith  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they 
shall  be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with 
them,  and  be  their  God." 

No  doubt  there  are  many  sneers  still  directed  at 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  scoffing  criticism 
is  perhaps  still  on  some  lips,  that  it  showed  great 
ignorance  of  human  nature.  Now  there  was  nothing 
that  Jesus  knew  better  than  human  nature.  And  it 
is  remarkable,  that  though  to  human  nature  as  it  is, 
this  vision  was  a  mere  Utopia,  He  propounded  it  in 
all  seriousness  and  in  all  good  faith.  What  manner 
of  man  was  this  that  could  not  only  set  forth  to  His 
disciples  what  ought  to  be,  but  foretell  what  in  a 
measure  would  be  ?  What  a  wonderful  control  He 
must  have  felt  that  He  possessed  over  all  moral 
forces  when  He  could  commit  Himself,  as  a  practi- 
cal teacher,  to  such  a  model,  and  feel  sure  that  it 
would  be  realised  more  or  less  over  all  the  civilised 
world!  What  faith  He  must  have  had  in  His 
ability  to  set  the  successive  generations  of  good  men 
for  hundreds  of  years  in  motion  after  the  realisation 
of  His  ideal ! 

Further,  let  us  observe,  that  it  was  necessary  for 
Christ,  while  beginning  His  work,  to  show  clearly 


216  PUBLIC  DISCOURSES. 

the  relation  of  the  new  economy  to  the  old.  He 
must  show  that  the  new  was  not  to  be  a  subversion 
but  a  development  of  the  old,  and  that  the  law, 
while  still  retaining  all  its  authority,  w^as  in  the 
first  instance  to  show  to  man  his  imperfections,  and 
lead  him  to  seek  for  another  righteousness ;  and 
thereafter,  under  the  influence  of  a  new  spirit,  to 
be  the  rule  of  his  life,  the  indication  to  him  of  fhe 
will  of  his  Lord. 

But  though  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  does  not 
set  forth  fully  the  doctrine  of  redemption,  that  doc- 
trine underlies  it,  and  may  easily  be  found  in  it.  It 
is  true  the  sermon  rather  shows  to  man  his  duty  on 
the  one  hand,  and  his  sin,  want,  and  need  on  the 
other,  than  indicates  in  detail  the  sources  of  gracious 
blessing  as  provided  in  the  gospel.  Very  plainly  it 
is  the  doctrine  of  this  sermon  that  man  is  a  sinner. 
He  needs  a  righteousness,  a  li^^hteousness  which 
must  exceed  the  common  standard,  must  exceed  the 
righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  As  a 
sinner  he  must  appeal  to  God  iox  justifying  righteous- 
ness— for  forgiveness ;  he  must  pray,  "  Forgive  us  our 
debts."  As  a  sinner,  too,  he  must  appeal  to  God  for 
sanctifying  righteousness  ;  he  must  pray,  "  Deliver 
us  from  evil."  The  sermon  is  full  of  considerations 
showing  the  awful  position  of  man  before  God.  It 
brings  him  face  to  face  with  God,  makes  him  enter 
the  closet  and  shut  the  door,  and  feel  that  none  but 
God  is  there.  It  shows  him  the  searching  character 
of  God's  law,  finding  sin  in  every  angry  thought,  in 
every  irregular  sensual  feeling.  It  holds  up  to  him 
the  highest  possible  standard — the  very  perfection 
of  God  :  "Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your 


SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT.  2 1  7 

Father  wliich  is  in  heaven  is  perfect."  It  summons 
him  to  specific  duties  of  acknowledged  difficulty, 
requires  him  to  forgive  and  love  his  enemies,  to 
place  unwavering  reliance  on  God,  and  to  be  per- 
fectly sincere  in  all  his  service.  It  indicates  the 
rigour  of  the  law,  once  a  sinner  comes  within  its 
grasp :  "  Thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence 
till  thou  hast  paid  the  uttermost  farthing."  It 
presses  the  necessity  of  a  choice  :  "  Enter  ye  in  at 
the  strait  gate."  It  requires  of  us  the  moral  courage 
that  chooses  a  different  road  from  that  of  the  many, 
and  it  warns  us,  repeatedly  and  solemnly,  of  the 
danfrer  of  our  beingj  cast  into  hell. 

Piightly  apprehended,  wliat  is  the  effect  of  all  this 
but  to  bring  the  sinner  into  the  depths,  to  stop  his 
mouth,  to  make  him  cry  for  mercy  to  pardon  and 
grace  to  help  ?  Though  there  is  a  certain  severity 
about  the  sermon,  it  is  not  the  untempered  severity 
that  drives  to  despair.  It  is  spoken  with  autliority, 
but  not  the  authority  of  a  stern,  unsympathising 
rabbi.  There  is  not  a  little  sunshine  in  it,  not  a 
little  that  is  fitted  to  encourage.  Pre-eminent  in 
this  respect  is  the  opening  word  of  the  sermon: 
"  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  It  is  not  by  accident  that 
this  stands  first.  It  is  the  key-note  of  the  whole. 
The  object  is  to  foster  the  sense  of  poverty,  and 
then  reveal  and  impart  to  faith  the  infinite  stores  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  All  are  available  for  the 
poor  in  spirit.  Let  them  enter  into  the  kingdom  as 
little  children,  and  they  will  find  ample  provision 
for  all  their  needs. 

In  other  ways,  too,  our  Lord  encouraged  the  poor 


218  PUBLIC  DrSCOURSES. 

in  spirit.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  He  showed  them  God 
as  a  strict  lawgiver  and  judge,  on  the  other  He 
showed  Him  as  a  considerate  Father.  There  is  a 
delightful  blending  in  the  sermon  of  the  judicial 
and  paternal  elements  of  God's  character.  From 
vhatever  is  good  in  fallen  humanity  it  rises  to  a 
corresponding  but  far  higher  goodness  in  God  :  "  If 
ye  that  are  evil  know  how  to  give  good  things  to 
your  children,  how  much  more  sliall  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  unto  them  that 
ask  him?"  And  it  draws  the  heart  up  to  God.  It 
has  an  attractive,  elevating  tendency.  "  Our  Father, 
which  art  in  heaven/'  it  says,  making  us  lift  up 
our  soul,  like  the  Psalmist  (Ps.  xxv.  1),  to  Him. 
It  encourages  the  spirit  of  trust — that  spirit  that  is 
the  perennial  fountain  of  peace  and  joy,  and  that 
takes  away  the  sharpness  of  anxieties,  the  bitterness 
of  trials,  and  the  gloom  of  sufferings.  Thus,  in  its 
whole  drift  and  tendency,  it  is  an  evangelical  sermon. 
It  does  not  say  all  that  might  be  said.  But  what  it 
does  say  is  fitted  to  bring  the  earnest  soul  into  the 
attitude  of  desiring  and  seeking  for  more ;  and  then, 
that  law  of  the  kingdom  comes  into  operation  :  "  To 
him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have 
abundantly." 

And  no  sermon  ever  ended  with  a  more  searching 
or  striking  peroration.  The  discourse,  which  begins 
with  a  sevenfold  blessing,  ends  with  the  crash  of 
doom.  For  warning  men  to  take  heed  how  they 
hear,  nothing  can  be  better  adapted  than  the  last 
figure — that  of  the  house,  built  perhaps  with  much 
care,  but  on  a  false  foundation,  swept  away  by  a 
resistless  torrent,  and  crushed  in  utter  ruin.   Nothing 


SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT.  219 

could  more  clearly  foreshadow  the  moral  history  of 
the  world  in  relation  to  Christ's  kingdom.  Well 
does  that  Preacher  know  that  the  stone  which  He 
is  now  unloosening  from  the  mountains  is  to  roll  on 
to  the  end  of  time — that  the  truths  He  is  now  pro- 
claiming are  to  have  everlasting  results.  The 
account  to  be  given  by  men  of  that  sermon  repre- 
sents the  whole  reckoning  of  the  day  of  doom  ;  the 
crash  of  the  house  mingles  with  the  crash  of  falling 
worlds  ;  and  the  desolation  of  the  inhabitant  merges 
in  that  of  lost  souls.  Little  do  they  apprehend  the 
nature  of  this  sermon  who  imagine  that  when  Jesus 
delivered  it  He  was  a  mere  reformer  of  Judaism,  an 
improver  of  the  legal  dispensation.  The  Son  of  man 
knew  His  work  from  the  besrinningj ;  He  knew  what 
kingdom  had  been  delivered  to  Him  of  the  Father ; 
and  in  the  knowledge  of  this,  and  nothing  less  than 
this,  "  he  spoke  as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as 
the  scribes." 


CHAPTER   XITI. 

Tllb:  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

If  there  were  nothing  else  to  prove  the  super- 
natural origin  of  Christianity  the  history  of  the 
twelve  apostles  might  furnish  an  unanswerable 
proof.  No  twelve  men  ever  made  such  an  impres- 
sion on  the  world.  We  need  not  measure  their 
influence  by  such  memorials  as  the  magnificent 
temples  that  to  this  day  bear  their  names — such  as 
Saint  Peter's  at  Rome, — wonderful  though  these  are, 
and  tokens  of  a  marvellous  influence.  What  we 
are  to  consider  in  these  men  is  their  unexampled 
spiritual  power,  the  power  by  which  they  were 
enabled  to  transform  the  lives  and  characters  of 
their  fellows,  to  teach  the  ignorant,  to  reclaim  the 
erring ;  to  make  men  noble,  pure,  and  generous ;  to 
restore  the  image  of  God ;  in  a  word,  to  bring  down, 
in  large  measure,  the  spirit  of  heaven  to  earth. 

We  have  to  take  into  account  that  when  they 
joined  Christ  they  were  unlearned  and  ignorant, 
with  no  antecedents  of  promise,  full  of  prejudices, 
subject  to  infirmities,  even  childish  infirmities, 
utterly  unlikely  to  become  great  and  powerful  men. 
Some  were  fishermen,  and  one  was  a  publican. 
Fishermen  are   generally  an   isolated  class,   living 

2-20 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  221 

much  among  themselves,  prone  to  superstition, 
obstinate  in  their  traditions,  believing  in  lucky  and 
unlucky  days  and  omens,  with  no  book-learning, 
and  little  of  the  smartness  that  comes  of  intercourse 
with  the  world.  Publicans,  collectors  of  taxes,  are 
not  an  attractive  race,  not  even  at  home,  and  much 
less  in  such  countries  as  Syria  was  then.  We  have 
to  remember  also  the  shortness  of  the  time  durin^r 
which  Jesus  and  His  apostles  were  together — not 
more,  in  all  likelihood,  than  three  years.  It  is  an 
unprecedented  wonder  that  such  men  should  in 
that  little  time  have  been  trained  for  such  marvel- 
lous work.  That  Jesus,  who  was  apparently  but  a 
working  man  like  themselves,  should  have  so  won- 
derfully transfused  into  them  His  own  spirit.  His 
mighty  plans  for  the  world,  His  noble  aspirations, 
the  love  that  many  waters  could  not  quench,  the 
zeal  that  no  persecution  could  smother,  the  courage 
that  defied  them  that  kill  the  body,  the  faith  that 
removed  mountains,  the  purity  of  character  that 
mocked  calumny,  as  well  as  the  teaching  power 
that  spread  over  the  world  the  mysteries  of  His 
kingdom,  is  a  wonder  for  which  among  mere  natural 
causes  we  shall  search  in  vain  for  any  that  has 
even  the  semblance  of  sufficiency.  Whatever 
changing  phases  the  battle  between  faith  and  un- 
belief may  assume,  whatever  weapons,  new  or  old, 
it  may  be  found  necessary  to  employ  in  defence  of 
the  faith,  the  world  can  never  cease  to  be  profoundly 
impressed  by  the  unparalleled  fact,  that  the  greatest 
and  most  enduring  revolution  ever  known  was  con- 
ducted by  publicans  and  fishermen  of  Galilee. 
The  means    which  our  Lord  had  of  influencing 


222  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

these  men  were  very  few  and  simple.  No  wealth, 
no  books,  no  social  or  ecclesiastical  connections,  no 
philosoj)hy,  no  science,  not  a  single  literary  or 
philosophical  acquaintance  had  He  to  help  Him  in 
the  process.  "  Speech  and  fellowship,"  as  has  been 
said,  were  His  only  apparent  means  of  influence. 
By  speech  He  enlightened  them,  by  fellowship  He 
attached  them.  In  speech  He  w^as  always  clear, 
racy,  striking,  and  wonderfully  decided.  His  mind 
was  made  up  on  every  question ;  His  views  were 
certain,  self-evidencing,  self-commending.  His 
remarks  were  not  cursory  observations  as  of  a 
clever  man  taking  a  glance  at  a  subject :  they  were 
the  fruits  of  a  knowledge  that  seemed  to  embrace 
all  facts,  and  of  a  wisdom  that  seemed  to  compre- 
hend all  their  relations. 

It  is  a  very  foolish  idea  that  in  the  course  of 
His  three  years'  ministry  our  Lord  changed  His 
plan.  That  He  began  on  one  tack,  si.w  that  it  was 
not  satisfactory,  and  changed  to  another ;  began  as 
a  reformer  of  morals,  and  changed  to  a  preacher  of 
salvation ;  began  as  John  the  Baptist  had  done,  and 
ended  by  claiming  to  be  the  Messiah,  is  a  weak  as 
well  as  a  baseless  position.  If  ever  teacher  began 
public  life  with  clear  vision  and  mature  views, 
Jesus  was  that  teacher.  If  ever  public  man  worked 
right  on  upon  the  same  line  of  things,  Jesus  was 
that  m.an. 

If  His  speech  was  tlius  unexampled,  so  was  His 
fellowship.  What  a  charm  there  must  have  been 
in  His  simplicity  and  transparency  of  character. 
His  kindly  sympathy.  His  ever-thoughtful  love.  His 
goodness   and  His  gentleness  !     How  many  little 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  223 

anecdotes  of  personal  kindness  and  loving  considera- 
tion must  every  one  of  the  little  band  have  had  to 
remember  !  It  is  remarkable  that,  save  in  the  tem- 
porary panic  of  the  crucifixion,  none  of  them  but 
Judas  ever  left  Him,  or  seemed  to  think  of  doing  it. 
Paul,  with  all  his  nobility,  failed  to  keep  Mark  with 
him  during  even  one  campaign,  Barnabas  left  him 
at  another,  and  in  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy 
he  speaks  of  Luke  as  his  only  remaining  companion. 
But  Jesus  kept  even  Judas  almost  to  the  last.  The 
very  thought  of  leaving  Him  was  repulsive.  "  Lord, 
to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life." 

The  idea  of  the  college  of  the  twelve  was  in  the 
main  original.  It  had  a  certain  resemblance  to  the 
methods  of  the  Greek  and  Eoman  philosophers,  and 
probably  it  was  not  without  precedent  of  some  sort 
in  olden  time  in  the  schools  of  the  prophets,  and  in 
days  more  recent  in  the  schools  of  the  Hebrew 
Eabbins.  What  was  especially  characteristic  of  the 
relation  of  Jesus  to  His  disciples  was,  that  they 
were  to  itinerate  with  Him,  to  live  and  eat,  to  walk 
and  work  along  with  Him,  sharing  many  of  His 
trials  and  some  of  His  joys — becoming,  as  far  as 
possible,  identified  with  Him.  It  was  the  best  way 
of  multiplying  Himself  that  the  circumstances  of 
His  earthly  life  admitted  of.  No  one  of  us  is  in  a 
position  to  follow  His  example  literally.  But  in 
spirit  some  approach  may  be  made  to  it.  A  young 
minister,  for  example,  may  try  to  multiply  himself 
by  means  of  the  young  men  of  his  flock.  Some 
have  a  rare  gift  of  finding  out  the  most  susceptible 
of  these — getting  them  about  them  in  classes  and 


224  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

meetiugs,  and  perhaps  sometimes  in  walks  and  at 
meals — explaining  to  them  their  plans,  infusing  into 
them  their  enthusiasm,  enlisting  their  sympathies, 
and  drawing  out  their  talents.  At  first  it  might  he 
thoudit  that  the  elders  of  a  conore^fation  would  be 
the  most  likely  persons  to  become  to  the  minister 
what  the  twelve  were  to  Jesus.  But  in  the  case  of 
a  young  minister,  the  elders  are  generally  men  in 
middle  or  advanced  life,  and  they  want  the  elasticity 
of  character  and  suppleness  of  manner  that  can 
be  easily  turned  to  new  modes  of  service.  Often 
valuable  for  mature  and  steady  Christian  character, 
they  are  not  seldom  deficient  in  practical  service. 

But  the  apostles,  profoundly  venerable  though 
their  after  lives  and  labours  have  made  them,  were 
not  the  old  men  of  the  painters  when  Jesus  called 
them.  Some  of  them  seemingly  were  but  lads, 
working  with  their  fathers  in  fishing  occupations ; 
even  after  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  the  title  they  got 
from  the  stranger  on  the  sea-beach  was  "  children  " 
— TracSla,  lads  ; — their  disputes  were  often  childish, 
as  to  which  would  be  greatest,  and  their  friendly 
contests — one  apostle  outrunning  another  on  the 
way  to  the  sepulchre — showed  how  young  they 
were  in  mind.  So  that  the  relation  of  a  minister  to 
the  godly  young  men  of  his  flock  is  not  an  inappro- 
priate analogy.  Dr.  Chalmers  in  Glasgow,  gathering 
young  men  around  him,  pouring  his  own  views  and 
spirit  into  them,  rousing  them  to  aid  in  his  territorial 
schemes,  and  thus  training  the  youths  who  in  after 
years  became  the  elite  of  the  Christian  laity  of  the 
west,  comes  as  near  as  may  be  on  a  mere  common 
level  to  the  example  of  Christ  and  His  twelve. 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  225 

Let  US  mark  of  the  twelve,  that  they  seem  to  have 
belonged  to  the  more  serious  families — to  what  may 
be  called  the  religious  aristocracy  of  the  district. 
Some  of  them  were  related  to  each  other,  and  some 
had  been  under  the  instructions  of  John  the 
Baptist.  One  group  were  natives  of  Bethsaida; 
another  appear  to  have  belonged  to  Capernaum. 
These  families  seem  to  have  been  exceptions  to  the 
mass,  for  the  people  generally  were  hardened  in 
wickedness.  Though  there  was  less  of  the  foulness 
of  sensual  pollution  in  the  cities  of  the  northern 
lake  than  there  had  been  in  those  of  the  southern  in 
the  days  of  Abraham,  there  was  not  less  of  the  depth 
and  inveteracy  of  sin.  If  the  mighty  works  that  were 
done  by  Jesus  in  them  had  been  done  in  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  they  would  have  remained  until  that  day. 

We  have  adverted  to  the  deep  impression  made 
on  the  world  at  large  by  the  fact  that  most  of  the 
apostles  were  fishermen.  The  impression  has  usually 
been  that  which  arises  from  the  palpable  distance 
and  disproportion  between  the  original  calling  of  the 
men  and  the  work  to  which  they  were  appointed. 
It  is  more  rarely  that  men  have  apprehended  the 
symbolical  meaning  of  the  craft,  and  its  appropriate- 
ness as  a  training  for  the  more  spiritual  work.  The 
symbolical  callings  of  the  Bible  which  are  applied 
to  the  ofi&ce  of  the  ministry  have  all  their  signifi- 
cancy ;  but  in  certain  respects  that  of  the  fisherman 
is  the  most  suggestive.  The  shepherd  or  pastor ;  the 
watchman  on  the  walls  of  Zion,  set  to  warn  men  of 
danger ;  the  soldier  fighting  the  good  fight ;  the  hus- 
bandman with  his  hard  plodding  and  patient  waiting 
for  God  to  give  the  increase ;  the  vinedresser,  prun- 

p 


226  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TAVELVE. 

ing,  watering,  graftiug;  the  builder,  choosing  his 
strong  foundation  and  building  carefully  on  it ;  the 
physician,  faithful,  vigilant,  and  tender ;  the  nurse 
affectionately  cherishing  her  children  ;  the  father  in 
Christ  entreating  them  with  tears,  and  rejoicing, 
like  the  father  of  the  prodigal,  in  their  conversion — 
are  all  instructive  emblems,  but  none  conveys  the 
precise  idea  symbolized  by  the  craft  of  those  whom 
Jesus  called  to  be  fishers  of  men. 

First,  it  is  an  aggressive  craft,  differing  from  the 
Old  Testament  emblem  of  the  shepherd,  whose 
occupation  is  mainly  conservative.  The  shepherd 
has  to  tend  an  existing  flock  ;  the  fisherman  has  to 
find  and  secure  his  fish.  Then,  there  is  in  the 
symbol  of  men-fishers  the  idea  that  those  whom 
they  are  set  to  catch  are  unwilling  to  be  taken,  and 
as  fain  to  escape  from  them  as  fish  from  the  fisher- 
man, although  their  purpose  is  not  to  destroy  but  to 
bless.  Further,  there  is  the  notion  of  certain  quali- 
ties needed  for  a  successful  fisherman — diligence, 
skill,  patience,  courage,  and  faith.  Diligence,  for 
the  fisherman  must  look  well  to  his  nets  and  his 
ship.  Skill,  for  he  must  adapt  himself  well  to  the 
habits  of  the  fish.  Courage,  for  he  must  expose 
himself  to  stormy  elements.  Patience,  for  many 
of  his  efforts  will  end  in  disappointment,  the  net 
will  often  come  up  empty;  and  faith,  for  success 
depends  on  conditions  over  some  of  which  he  has 
often  no  control.  Now,  these  are  the  very  quali- 
ties most  needed  for  the  ministry. 

Moreover,  the  business  of  fishermen  implies  a 
certain  separation  from  the  world,  which  also  has 
its  counterpart  in  the  life  of  the  godly  and  devoted 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  227 

minister.  On  the  sea  the  fishemian  is  away  from 
the  haunts  of  other  men.  As  night  is  often  the 
season  for  his  work,  he  pulls  away  from  the  lights 
of  the  city,  or  the  modest  taper  in  his  cottage  win- 
dow, and  thinks  of  other  men  enjoying  their  fireside 
comforts  or  their  calm  repose,  while  for  him  there 
is  only  the  bitter  embrace  of  the  cold  north  wind. 
But  this  very  isolation  throws  fishermen  more  on 
each  other's  company,  and  generates  a  deeper  sense 
of  brotherhood.  When  religious  awakenings  occur 
of  the  rapidly  spreading  kind,  it  is  observed  that 
they  move  very  fast  among  fishermen,  and  that 
sometimes  tliey  are  confined  to  them  alone.  This 
fact  is  an  illustration  of  the  closeness  of  the  sympathy 
that  binds  them  together,  and  the  readiness  with 
which  they  communicate  what  they  have  to  each 
other.  So  we  may  say  of  the  servants  of  Christ 
that  they  are  thrown  peculiarly  on  one  another,  and 
ought  to  be  bound  together  by  peculiar  ties  of 
sympathy  and  regard.  In  a  certain  sense  the  true 
minister  must  feel  that  he  is  not  of  the  world ;  he 
must  be  ready  to  give  up  its  joys  and  pleasures; 
ready  at  his  Master's  call  to  go  where  there  is  little 
or  nothing  to  soothe  and  cheer — where  there  is 
much  to  repel  and  vex.  He  must  be  prepared  for 
storms,  and  even  for  the  appearance  of  his  Master 
asleep  on  the  pillow,  as  if  not  caring  that  His 
servants  should  perish.  Such  experiences,  however, 
must  serve  as  occasions  for  rallying  faith  and  re- 
establishing trust;  for  taking  hold  anew  of  the 
assurance,  which  is  the  strong  tower  and  refuge  of 
the  faithful  in  every  hour  of  need  :  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 


228  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

A  very  important  statement  in  reference  to  the 
choice  of  the  twelve  apostles  is  made  in  these  words 
of  Luke :  "  It  came  to  pass  in  those  days  that  he 
went  out  into  a  mountain  to  pray,  and  continued  all 
night  in  prayer  to  God.  And  when  it  was  day,  he 
called  unto  him  his  disciples :  and  of  them,  he  chose 
twelve,  whom  also  he  named  apostles."  It  is  in 
many  ways  an  instructive  scene.  If  He  was  con- 
strained to  spend  a  whole  night  in  prayer  before 
choosing  His  apostles,  should  not  we  feel  called  to 
great  deliberation  and  earnestness  of  prayer  before 
o-ivino'  ourselves  to  His  service  ?  And  once  we  are 
ministers,  ought  not  our  choice  (so  far  as  it  is  our 
choice)  of  coadjutors  to  be  very  solemn  and  prayer- 
ful too  ?  Do  we  not  go  about  the  selection  of 
Sabbath-school  teachers,  the  recommending  of  per- 
sons to  be  elders  or  deacons,  and  the  like,  in  a 
spirit  far  from  devout?  But  surely  the  disciple  is 
not  above  his  master,  nor  the  servant  above  his  lord. 
We  may  believe  that  Jesus  had  His  mind  full  of  the 
far-reaching  influence  which  His  apostles  would 
have,  and  the  need,  therefore,  of  great  care  that  the 
best  men  should  be  selected,  and  that  they  should 
have  much  of  the  blessing  of  God.  If  we  wish  to 
know  something  of  His  prayer,  we  may  find  it,  in 
substance,  in  the  1 7th  chapter  of  John.  That  they 
might  be  sanctified  by  the  truth — that  they  might 
be  kept  from  the  evil  in  the  world — that  God  would 
keep  them  through  His  own  name  ;  and  especially 
til  at  they  all  might  be  one.  And  if  the  petition  was 
added,  "  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them 
also  that  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word, 
that  they  all  may  be  one  " — may  we  not  feel  that  the 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  229 

intercessions  of  that  night  were  not  limited  to  the 
twelve,  but  embraced  all  their  successors  ?  Is  there 
no  possible  link,  then,  between  that  mountain-top 
and  every  company  of  candidates — not  indeed  for 
the  apostolic,  but  for  the  ministerial  office  ?  May 
we  not  think  of  ourselves  as  liaving  had  an  interest 
in  these  prayers  ?  And  if,  even  remotely,  the  heart 
of  Jesus  was  drawn  out  that  night  for  all  future 
workers  in  His  vineyard,  is  this  not  fitted  to  have 
a  powerful  influence  on  us,  and  fire  us  with  the 
ambition  to  serve  Him  as  He  was  served  by  the  first 
batch  of  disciples  ? 

It  appears  tliat  Christ  made  choice  of  the  twelve 
out  of  a  much  larger  number  of  disciples  who  even 
already  had  become  attached  to  Him.     Doubtless 
He  chose  them,  not  because  they  were  all  alike,  but 
because,  while  alike  in  some  things,  they  were  in 
many  things  different.     A  modern  writer  has  at- 
tempted to  find  in  each  apostle  the  representative 
of  some  special  type  of  Christian  character  or  mode 
of  service.     There   may   be   more   ingenuity  than 
solidity  in  some  of  the  qualities  specified ;  but  here 
in  substance  they  are : — 
Peter,  the  Eock,  represents  the  principle  of  con- 
fession— of  bold  and  fearless  avowal  of  disciple- 
ship — of  disregard  of  the  power  and  influence 
of  this  world. 
Andrew — the   manly   breaker    up   of    the   way, 
who  went  and  found  his  brother  Simon,  and 
brought  him  to  Jesus — represents   the   evan- 
gelistic   principle — the    leaven-like    spirit    of 
the  Gospel — the  diffusive  character  of  Chris- 
tianity. 


230  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

James,  one  of  the  Sons  of  Thunder,  who  was  not 
permitted  to  give  to  Christ  the  active  service 
of  his  life,  but  was  the  first  to  shed  his  blood 
for  Him,  represents  the  principle  of  martyrdom. 

John,  the  Beloved  Disciple,  more  a  man  of  con- 
templation than  of  action,  a  seer  of  visions 
when  in  the  Spirit,  represents  the  principle  of 
calm  contemplation,  mysticism,  ideal  depth. 

Philip,  who  like  Andrew  went  to  communicate 
the  good  tidings  to  others,  and  invited  Na- 
thanael  to  "  come  and  see,"  to  test  by  experience 
the  good  that  could  come  out  of  Nazareth, 
represents  the  principle  of  experimental  know- 
ledge— the  inward  evidence  of  the  truth. 

Nathanael,  the  Israelite  indeed  in  whom  was  no 
guile  (supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Bartholo- 
mew), represents  the  type  of  transparent  sim- 
plicity and  childlikeness  of  character,  and  entire 
consecration  to  God. 

Thomas,  so  prone  to  doubt,  represents  the  spirit 
of  scepticism  (in  the  original  sense),  of  criticism 
and  free  inquiry,  but  in  union  with  true  de- 
voutness  and  attachment  of  soul. 

Matthew,  in  whose  Gospel  the  Old  Testament  is 
so  much  made  use  of,  and  who  brings  so  much 
testimony  from  the  older  sources  to  bear  on 
Christ,  the  principle  of  ecclesiastical  learning 
and  antiquarian  research — the  spirit  that  brings 
the  past  to  bear  on  the  present  and  the  future. 

James,  the  son  of  Alphseus,  who  led  the  Council 
of  Jerusalem  to  the  decision  that  united  both 
parties — the  principle  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment and  union. 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  231 

Judas,  or  Thaddeus,  if  he  be  the  writer  of  the 
Epistle,  may  represent  the  principle  of  pastoral 
fidelity,  discipline — extrusion  from  the  Church 
of  unworthy  members. 
Simon  Zelotes,  on  the  supposition  that  his  surname 
denoted  a  personal  quality — pastoral  activity, 
readiness  for  work — for  enterprise — for  peril 
and  trouble. 
Judad  Iscariot — the  secular  administration  of  the 

Church. 
The  over-ingenuity  of  this  table  in  some  points 
may  be  admitted  without  giving  up  the  fact  that 
the  College  of  the  Twelve  were  a  body  of  men  who 
were  not  copies  but  complements  of  one  another. 
It  was  a  miniature  likeness  of  the  Church — a  picture 
in  small  compass  of  that  fulness  and  variety  of  gifts 
and  graces  which  is  ever  the  characteristic  of  a  living 
Church.  We  learn  that  there  is  intended  to  be  a 
certain  manifoldness  of  character  in  the  ministers 
of  Christ's  Church.  Those  brethren  who  recognise 
but  one  type  of  Christian  character,  or  of  Christian 
service,  and  if  not  opposed  are  very  suspicious  of  all 
who  do  not  conform  to  that  type,  are  not  walking  in 
Christ's  steps.  It  is  not  desirable  that  all  our  minis- 
ters should  be  alike.  It  is  not  desirable  that  every 
one  should  be  of  the  type  of  Paul,  any  more  than  of 
the  type  of  Peter,  or  the  type  of  James  or  of  John. 
It  is  desirable,  nay  necessary,  that  all  should  have 
the  Spirit  of  Christ ;  but  Jesus  Christ  Himself  has 
laid  it  down,  and  it  should  ever  be  recognised, 
that  His  servants  have  gifts  differing  one  from 
another. 

It  will  always  be  a  mysterious  circumstance  why 


232  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

Judas  Iscariot  was  placed  among  the  apostles. 
Even  conjecture  can  hardly  throw  light  on  this 
strange  fact.  Why  there  should  have  been  a  son  of 
perdition  in  the  chosen  band  baffles  our  conception. 
It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  Jesus  Christ  selected 
Judas  knowing  his  real  character.  Why  He  did  so 
we  really  cannot  tell,  unless  it  was  for  the  purpose 
of  a  warning  to  us  all.  Through  all  the  unbroken 
eighteen  centuries  Judas  Iscariot  has  stood  as  it 
were  in  the  pillory,  in  the  full  gaze  of  all  mankind, 
a  terrible  spectre  of  greed  and  treachery,  to  show  us 
how  near  one  may  come  to  the  Only-begotten  Son 
and  yet  be  a  devil,  how  familiarly  one  may  handle 
sacred  things  and  yet  be  in  the  gall  of  bitterness 
and  in  the  bond  of  iniquity,  hov/  close  one  may  come 
to  the  gate  of  heaven  and  after  all  be  a  child  of  hell. 
It  is  to  be  remarked  as  striking  that  the  whole  of 
the  twelve  were  chosen  by  our  Lord  near  the  begin- 
ning of  His  ministry.  He  did  not  begin  with  a  small 
number,  to  be  afterwards  enlarged ;  He  completed 
ohe  college  at  once.  This  shows  us  how  mature  His 
own  mind  was  as  to  His  work,  and  as  to  the  men 
best  fitted  to' aid  in  it.  This  plan  had  the  advantage 
too  of  securing  a  united  testimony  and  an  intelligent 
co-operation  all  through.  It  gave  the  apostles  the 
benefit  of  that  charm  which  arises  from  early  asso- 
ciation in  an  enterprise,  an  enterprise  which  begins 
with  small  beginnings  and  goes  on,  through  many 
dangers  and  conflicts,  to  a  glorious  issue.  We  think 
in  this  connection  of  the  association  of  Luther  and 
Melanchthon ;  we  think  of  Crannier,  Latimer,  and 
Eidley;  we  think  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers ;  we  think 
of  others  who  have  nursed  together  an  infant  cause 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  233 

and  lived  to  see  its  maturity  and  its  triumphs ;  we 
think  of  the  effects  of  adversity  in  making  them 
cling  the  more  to  one  another,  to  their  cause,  and  to 
their  Lord.  Had  the  twelve  been  but  straggling 
adherents,  attached  one  now,  another  then,  they 
would  not  have  had  that  interest  in  the  cause  and 
that  steadfastness  to  each  other  which  helped  to  give 
such  strength  to  their  testimony,  such  efficiency  to 
their  labours,  and  such  glory  to  their  lives. 

The  elaborate  charge  which  our  Lord  addressed 
to  His  twelve  disciples  when  He  sent  them  to  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel  (Matt,  x.),  furnishes 
a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  true  spirit  of  Christian 
service.  From  first  to  last  it  takes  for  granted  the 
spirit  of  thorough  consecration  and  unswerving- 
trust.  To  men  of  worldly  temper,  who  have  no 
faith  in  spiritual  forces,  and  to  whom  the  idea  of  a 
supernatural  fellowship  with  God  is  but  a  devout 
imagination,  nothing  could  appear  more  Quixotic 
than  the  enterprise  itself,  and  the  weapons  furnished 
for  conducting  it. 

The  first  word  is  most  significant — "  He  gave  them 
power."  Power  in  Christian  work  springs  not  from 
brilliant  talents,  nor  careful  culture,  nor  eminent 
scholarship,  nor  social  position,  nor  the  influence 
of  the  great,  but  from  Christ  alone.  However  use- 
ful such  things  may  be  as  instruments,  they  have 
not  an  atom  of  spiritual  power.  The  men  of  might 
in  the  Christian  Church  are  the  men  who  have  much 
of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Furnished  with  power  from 
Him,  they  may  look  down  on  those  whose  patronage 
is  often  counted  such  a  benefit  to  their  cause.     For 


234  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

in  truth,  men  of  worldly  rank  and  means  are  far 
more  in  need  of  a  Church  full  of  Christ's  spirit 
than  such  a  Church  can  be  of  them. 

The  message  which  He  gave  them  to  proclaim 
vvas,  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  at  hand.  It 
was  a  simple  message,  but  based  on  one  of  our 
Lord's  most  favourite  ideas — the  coming  together  in 
the  gospel  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  coming  of  heaven 
to  earth,  the  transfusion  into  earth  of  the  spirit  of 
heaven.  Such  a  message  may  well  stimulate  every 
preacher ;  for  how  should  it  raise  his  spirits  and 
quicken  his  energies  to  remember  that  the  enter- 
prise in  which  he  bears  a  part  contemplates  nothing 
less  than  the  bringing  this  sin-stricken  earth  into 
contact  with  the  spirit  of  heaven. 

To  illustrate  the  gracious  purpose  and  tendency 
of  their  ministry,  their  message  was  to  be  accom- 
panied by  numberless  works  of  beneficence.  They 
were  to  heal  the  sick  and  raise  the  dead,  to  cleanse 
the  lepers  and  cast  out  devils,  and  as  they  had  freely 
received  so  they  were  freely  to  give.  The  gospel  is 
not  the  threat  of  a  creditor,  nor  the  summons  of  a 
taskmaster ;  it  is  glad  tidings  of  great  joy.  It  bears 
gifts  for  the  body,  though  its  main  inheritance  is 
for  the  soul ;  it  has  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now 
is,  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to  come.  Though 
supernatural  power  has  ceased,  this  connection  may 
still  be  maintained.  If  we  cannot  heal  the  sick  by 
a  word,  we  may  do  much  for  them  through  the 
medical  missionary  and  the  Christian  nurse ;  if  we 
cannot  raise  the  dead,  we  may  prolong  the  days  of 
the  living ;  if  we  cannot  cleanse  the  leper,  we  may 
cleanse  the  cesspools  of  moral  and  physical  corrup- 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  235 

tion  ;  if  we  cannot  cast  out  devils,  we  may  assail 
forms  of  vice  which  turn  men  and  women  into 
demons.  Our  preaching  should  be  in  close  con- 
nection with  all  that  tends  to  lighten  the  burdens 
and  brighten  the  life  of  humanity.  Where  there  is 
a  grim  and  hard  indifference  to  every  human  interest 
even  the  gospel  message  fails  to  win. 

In  the  charge  of  our  Lord  to  His  apostles,  the 
most  conspicuous  topic  of  all  is  the  opposition  they 
would  have  to  encounter.  For  that  opposition,  and 
for  all  the  effects  of  it.  He  strives  to  nerve  them, 
especially  by  infusing  the  spirit  of  serene  trust — 
of  a  holy  regard  for  Him,  and  a  holy  regardlessness 
of  all  that  might  be  against  them.  If  they  found 
themselves  like  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves,  they 
were  to  remember  that  it  was  He  who  had  placed 
them  there.  And  the  heart  of  the  Father  was  the 
same  to  them  as  that  of  Jesus.  "  Are  not  two 
sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing,  and  not  one  of  them 
shall  fall  to  the  ground  without  your  Father  ?  But 
the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered.  Fear 
not,  therefore;  ye  are  of  more  value  than  many 
sparrows."  The  spirit  of  trust  is  one  of  those 
attainments  that  are  difficult  because  they  are  so 
simple.  It  seems  so  reasonable  that  we  should  trust 
God ;  it  is  often  so  hard  to  do  it.  Yet  no  spirit  is 
so  strong  as  trust,  or  so  rich  in  blessing.  Childlike 
in  itself,  it  breeds  heroes,  and  it  is  equally  sublime 
in  the  highest  officers  and  in  the  humblest  servants 
of  the  kingdom. 

And  out  of  trust  comes  the  spirit  of  patient 
endurance.  It  was  a  long  time  of  trial  they  would 
have,  but  victory  was  sure  in  the  end.     "  Ye  shall 


236  THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake ;  but  he 
that  endureth  to  the  end,  the  same  shall  be  saved." 

Meanwhile,  they  must  be  courageous  and  resolute. 
It  is  a  fearless  confession  of  Christ  that  becomes 
His  servants.  This  is  the  characteristic  feature  of 
the  whole  charge,  and  if  we  claim  to  be  successors 
of  the  apostles  we  must  respond  to  this  call.  If 
Christ  has  any  right  to  be  our  Master  He  may  well 
claim  our  supreme  homage  and  confidence.  "He 
that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me  is  not 
worthy  of  me ;  and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter 
more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me.  And  he  that 
taketh  not  his  cross  and  followeth  after  me  is  not 
worthy  of  me.  He  that  findeth  his  life  shall  lose  it, 
and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it." 

The  charge  to  the  twelve  recalls  the  song  of 
Deborah,  with  the  scorn  she  poured  on  the  lazy 
tribes,  and  her  blessing  on  the  brave.  "  Why  abodest 
thou  among  the  sheepfolds,  to  hear  the  bleatings  of 
the  flocks  ?  Gilead  abode  beyond  Jordan  :  and  why 
did  Dan  remain  in  ships  ?  Asher  continued  on  the 
sea-shore,  and  abode  in  his  breaches.  Zebulun  and 
Naphtali  were  a  people  that  jeoparded  their  lives 
unto  the  death  in  the  high  places  of  the  field." 

It  was  with  this  high  military  spirit  that  our  Lord 
sought  to  inspire  the  twelve.  With  all  His  humility 
He  spoke  out  frankly  about  Himself,  and  summoned 
them  to  a  bearing  worthy  the  followers  of  such  a 
leader.  The  "  higher  criticism  "  may  atiinn  that  in 
the  synoptic  Gospels  Jesus  makes  no  such  lofty 
claims  for  His  person  as  are  made  in  the  fourth. 
But  a  profounder  criticism  will  detect  in  the  1 0th 
chapter  of  Matthew's  Gospel  a  claim  and  a  challenge 


THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  TWELVE.  237 

whicli  cannot  be  surpassed.  The  person  of  Christ 
gives  such  power,  dignity,  and  glory  to  His  cause  as 
to  make  a  timid  and  sneaking  tone  disgraceful  on 
the  part  of  His  officers.  When  the  world  comes  to 
an  end,  and  the  awards  of  eternity  are  apportioned, 
the  very  smallest  service  done  in  His  name  will 
derive  from  its  connection  with  Him  a  value  and  a 
glory  unknown  in  any  other  field.  It  is  the  most 
certain  of  all  future  events  that  He  shall  reioii  from 
sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth.     A  cause  which  brinsrs  the  kincrdom  of  heaven 

o  o 

to  earth ;  which  scatters  salvation  and  all  other 
blessings  wheresoever  its  banner  comes ;  whose 
leader  bears  on  His  vesture  and  on  His  thigh  the 
name  "King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords;"  and 
whose  heroes  and  martyrs  are  to  shine  in  heaven 
like  the  stars  of  the  firmament,  demands  a  manly 
and  intrepid  bearing  on  the  part  of  every  one  who 
holds  a  commission  from  its  Lord. 

In  the  light  of  .this  ringing  charge  to  the  twelve, 
is  not  the  ordinary  tone  and  attitude  of  Christ's 
ministers  somewhat  too  tame?  Does  it  not  want 
something  of  that  spirit  of  firmness  and  fearlessness 
which  is  more  characteristic  perhaps  of  the  piety  of 
our  soldiers  and  sailors  when  they  come  out  on  the 
Lord's  side?  We  dare  not  overlook  the  military 
ring  of  this  charge.  All  preaching,  all  mission  work, 
all  revival  work,  becomes  telling  when  it  has  this 
warlike  ring.  This  is  the  characteristic  feature  of 
all  the  Christian  histories,  biographies,  speeches, 
and  appeals  which  move  men's  hearts,  and  induce 
them,  when  the  Master  calls  for  labourers,  to  answer, 
"  Here  am  I,  send  me." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

WiiiLE  our  Lord  during  His  life  did  occasionally 
send  out  His  apostles  on  special  errands  and  with 
special  instructions,  His  ordinary  method  of  train- 
ing them,  as  we  have  seen,  was  clinical  rather  than 
systematic.  For  the  most  part.  He  took  them  with 
Him,  as  He  pursued  His  own  course  from  city  to 
city,  and  from  hamlet  to  hamlet,  and  taught  them 
how  to  do  their  work  by  showing  them  how  He  did 
His.  They  heard  His  discourses,  they  followed  His 
discussions,  they  learned  His  views  of  sin  and  grace, 
of  man  and  God,  of  the  law  and  the  gospel,  of  death 
and  life;  they  saw  His  methods  of  angling,  so  to  speak, 
His  methods  of  dealing  with  various  sorts  of  men ; 
they  heard  His  prayers,  saw  His  miracles,  and  felt 
the  magnetism  of  His  presence,  and  the  charm  of 
His  tenderness,  grace,  and  humility. 

But  besides  having  His  example  to  learn  from, 
they  were  themselves  the  objects  of  a  more  direct 
training.  In  fact,  the  pastoral  training  of  the 
twelve  was  one  of  the  great  objects  of  our  Lord's 
public  life.  In  many  points  of  view,  this  fact  is 
worthy  of  attention.  It  has  an  important  bearing, 
for   example,    on   the    structure   of   the    Gospels. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  239 

Sceptics  have  asked  such  questions  as,  How  could 
the  apostle  John  know  what  passed  between  Jesus 
and  Nicodemus,  when  the  interview  was  a  secret 
one  ?  How  could  he  report  the  conversation  with 
the  woman  at  the  well,  when  there  were  none  but 
Jesus  and  the  woman  present?  And  they  have 
concluded  that  these  conversations,  like  Livy's 
speeches,  must  have  been  imaginary.  But  the  ex- 
planation is  obvious, — the  disciples  would  be  told 
all  by  Jesus.  And  Jesus  had  this  special  reason  for 
telling  them,  that  at  the  time  he  was  training  them 
how  to  deal  with  such  very  cases.  Just  as  a 
doctor,  going  round  the  wards  of  a  hospital  with  his 
students,  would  give  them  a  history  of  any  important 
case  ujp  to  the  time  of  its  being  brought  into  tlie 
hospital;  so  Jesus  would  most  naturally  inform  His 
apostles  what  took  place  between  Him  and  Nico- 
demus, or  between  Him  and  the  woman  at  the  well, 
in  order  that  they  might  rightly  understand  the 
cases,  and  know  how  to  act  when  similar  cases 
should  arise.  In  any  due  and  comprehensive  view 
of  the  purport  of  the  four  Gospels,  it  is  never 
to  be  forgotten  that,  in  addition  to  the  other  objects 
which  He  prosecuted,  Jesus  all  the  while  was  train- 
ing the  twelve. 

And  His  success  in  this  work  was  remarkable. 
No  instruments  seemed  less  adapted  to  their  work 
than  they  were  when  our  Lord  first  called  them; 
certainly  none  were  better  fitted  for  it  when  He  left 
them  to  continue  what  He  had  begun. 

I.  One  very  important  branch  of  this  training  was 
designed  to  quicken  the  spiritual  apprehension  of  the 
twelve:  to  make  them  quick  in  apprehending  the 


240  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

iiuth  of  God,  as  that  truth  was  contained  in  His 
word  and  illustrated  by  His  providence,  more  par- 
ticularly with  reference  to  the  objects  for  whicli 
He  had  come  into  the  world. 

Three  stages  are  easily  to  be  remarked  in  this 
course  of  ^training.  The  first  and  longest  is  tbat 
which  occupies  the  chief  part  of  the  public  ministry. 
The  second,  that  which  immediately  precedes  the 
last  scenes,  when  we  are  repeatedly  told,  Jesus 
began  to  announce  to  the  disciples  that  He  was  to  be 
condemned  and  crucified ;  the  third,  that  which  im- 
mediately follows  the  resurrection,  when  He  threw 
such  light  on  the  Scriptures,  and  especially  on  the 
Messianic  elements  contained  in  them.  A  fourth 
period  might  be  stated, — that  which  was  inaugurated 
by  the  mission  of  the  Comforter  after  the  resurrec- 
tion. At  first  they  could  hardly  be  said  even  to  see 
men  as  trees  walking ;  at  last,  under  the  guidance 
of  the  Spirit,  they  were  able  to  give  clear  and  con- 
vincing explanations  of  saving  truth.  Yet  even  the 
most  enlightened  of  apostles  had  to  own  that  here 
we  see  through  a  glass  darkly — indicating  that  the 
progression  is  not  yet  ended,  and  that  by  far  the 
most  remarkable  advance  in  knowledge  is  yet  to 
come. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  our  Lord's  intercourse 
with  the  twelve,  and  in  particular,  during  His 
Galilean  ministry,  He  followed  the  lines  which  the 
prophets  laid  down,  by  seeking  to  enlighten  them 
more  fully  in  the  spirituality  and  holiness  of  God, 
the  superiority  of  the  moral  to  the  ceremonial 
element  of  obedience,  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
spiritual  element  in  all  acceptable  worship,  and  in 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  241 

all  lioly  living.  He  laid  down  such  positions  in 
a  more  emphatic  way  than  the  prophets  had  done, 
bringing  the  spirituality  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
into  stronger  and  brighter  relief. 

It  was  only  after  the  spirituality  of  God,  of  His 
law,  and  of  His  worship  was  well  established  in  their 
minds,  that  the  apostles  were  prepared  to  be  in- 
structed in  what  was  more  peculiarly  characteristic 
of  the  new  dispensation,  and  especially  in  the  com- 
ing humiliation  and  death  of  their  Master,  and  the 
purpose  which  was  thus  to  be  served.  Had  this 
strange  aspect  of  their  Lord's  career  been  announced 
to  them  bluntly  at  the  beginning,  it  would  probably 
have  utterly  stupefied  and  confounded  them.  Their 
spirituality  of  view,  their  faith,  their  belief  in  the 
predominance  of  the  spiritual  over  the  sensible, 
would  not  have  been  strong  enough  to  bear  it.  As 
it  was,  the  announcement  of  what  was  at  hand  was 
almost  too  much  for  them.  Peter  opposed  it  with 
all  his  usual  vehemence.  But  Jesus  put  Peter 
firmly  down,  and  the  purpose  of  the  coming  death 
came  to  be  understood  and  appreciated.  But  their 
•prejudices  were  not  wholly  removed  until  the  third 
stage  of  their  progress — that  which  took  place 
under  Christ's  teaching,  when  He  opened  their  eyes 
after  the  resurrection.  So  much  was  found  in  the 
law  and  the  prophets  and  the  psalms,  showing  that 
Christ  must  suffer,  that  the  stumbling-block  of  the 
cross  was  then  entirely  removed.  The  more  we 
think  of  this  result  in  the  case  of  the  twelve,  the 
more  marvellous  does  Christ's  influence  on  them 
appear.  The  history  of  the  world  presents  no  case 
in  which  prejudices  were  so  completely  removed, 

Q 


242  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

and  views,  new  to  the  recipients,  but  old  in  their 
sources,  so  successfully  implanted,  and  endowed 
with  such  living  power.  And  all  this  achieved 
without  anything  like  rebellion,  or  schism,  or 
separation,  so  that  after  the  resurrection,  with  the 
exception  of  Judas,  who  fell  away  on  other 
grounds,  Christ's  views  of  the  kingdom,  as  well  as 
of  the  old  economy,  held  complete  possession  of 
them  all. 

11.  In  a  more  directly  spiritual  line  of  influence 
we  see  how  our  Lord  trained  the  apostles  to 
steady,  unwavering  trust  in  Him,  as  the  great 
Head  of  the  kingdom,  and  as  the  fountain  of  all  the 
grace,  strength,  and  blessing  which  it  dispensed. 

It  was  in  order  that  they  might  make  a  right  use 
of  the  stores  that  were  treasured  in  Him  that  He 
was  so  earnest  in  desiring  that  they  should  have 
true  views  of  His  person.  Very  different  from  the 
egotistical  vanity  that  delights  in  the  incense  of 
admiration  was  the  spirit  in  which  He  asked, 
"  Whom  do  men  say  that  I,  the  Son  of  man,  am  ? " 
And  as  far  removed  from  the  complacent  self-im- 
portance of  a  vain  man  acknowledging  a  compli- 
ment was  his  congratulation  when  Peter  said, 
"  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God," 
— "  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona,  for  flesh  and 
blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  That  in  Him  dwelleth  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily— that  we  are  com- 
plete in  Him  who  is  the  Head  of  all  principality 
and  power— that  out  of  His  fulness  all  we  receive, 
and  grace  for  grace — were  truths  of  the  most  vital 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  243 

importance,  in  which  it  behoved  the  apostles  to  be 
llioroughly  indoctrinated.  To  this  end  many  of  the 
miracles  were  directed,  in  so  far  as  their  effect  on 
the  apostles  was  concerned.  The  raising  of  Lazarus^ 
for  example,  was  not  meant  merely  to  attest  his 
power,  far  less  was  it  a  mere  act  of  kindness  to 
a  bereaved  and  beloved  family,  but  emphatically 
it  was  designed  to  show  to  the  disciples  the 
vastness  of  Christ's  resources,  not  merely  in  the 
world  of  the  living,  but  even  in  the  realms  of  the 
dead. 

So  also  the  miracle  of  walking  on  the  sea,  and 
the  miracle  of  hushing  the  winds  and  the  waves. 
Before  such  stupendous  exhibitions  of  power,  all 
the  tricks  of  magic,  all  the  mysteries  of  legerde- 
main were  as  nothing  and  vanity.  But  our  Lord's 
desire  through  them  was  not  to  be  admired  or 
wondered  at,  but  trusted.  Needless  though  it  was 
in  Peter  to  ask  leave  to  come  to  Him  on  the  waters, 
still  it  was  an  act  of  trust,  and  as  such  the  request 
was  granted.  But  Peter's  trust  was  feeble  and  flicker- 
ing, and  the  cry  of  terror  soon  came  from  his  sink- 
ing heart.  But  even  that  cry  of  terror  brought  a 
new  manifestation  of  gracious  power,  and  a  new 
proof  how  worthy  He  was  of  implicit  trust.  When 
our  Lord  asked,  "Will  ye  also  go  away?"  the 
most  gratifying  feature  of  Peter's  answer  was  its 
expression  of  trust — "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ? 
thou  liast  the  words  of  eternal  life."  When  the 
disciples  came  to  Him  with  the  request,  "Lord 
increase  our  faith,"  He  took  the  opportunity  to  en- 
large their  horizon  in  that  direction  to  the  very 
furthest   bound—"  If  ye   had   faith  as  a  grain  of 


244  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

mustard  seed,  ye  might  say  unto  tliis  sycamine  tree, 
Be  thou  plucked  up  by  the  root,  and  be  thou 
planted  in  the  sea ;  and  it  should  obey  you." 

In  His  farewell  address,  one  of  the  points  which 
He  most  elaborately  and  strongly  urged  was  the 
necessity  of  abiding  in  Him,  a  point  illustrated  very 
expressively  by  the  similitude  of  the  vine  and  the 
branches.  And  the  whole  tone  and  tenor  of  that 
address  goes  to  commend  the  spirit  of  trust.  No 
doubt  it  seemed  at  first  that  all  had  been  said 
in  vain.  Where  was  their  faith  when  "  all  the 
disciples  forsook  him  and  fled "  ?  But  an  army 
may  give  ^vay  in  a  moment  of  panic,  and  yet  in  a 
little  while  be  rallied  for  noble  service.  And 
though  the  faith  of  the  apostles  gave  way  for  the 
moment,  the  subsequent  rally  was  very  glorious. 
The  long  training  and  many  prayers  of  the  Master 
were  not  lost  after  all. 

In  this  connection  we  naturally  single  out  the 
cases  of  two  of  the  apostles  with  whom  our  Lord 
had  very  special  dealings  in  reference  to  their  faith 
in  Him — Peter  and  Thomas.  Eeferring  to  Peter's 
confidence  in  his  own  strength,  but  real  weakness, 
Jesus  said,  "  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith 
fail  not."  Some  might  have  thought  it  more 
appropriate  to  pray  that  his  courage  might  not  fail, 
since  courage  was  the  attribute  that  would  be 
specially  tried.  But  in  our  Lord's  view  faith  was 
more  important  than  courage.  That  Peter  should 
have  a  profound  impression  that  Jesus  Christ  was 
the  Head  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  the  only 
fountain  of  salvation  and  blessing,  and  that  he 
should  be  brought  into   the  habit  of  clinging  to 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  245 

Christ,  and  drawing  from  Him  by  faith  accordingly, 
was  more  for  the  apostle's  own  good,  and  for  his 
usefulness  in  the  Church  than  that  he  should  have 
an  enlarged  supply  of  courage,  whether  physical  or 
moral.  And  when  the  crisis  came  after  the  ascen- 
sion, it  was  Peter's  faith  that  carried  the  Church 
through — a  faith  summed  up  in  his  memorable 
utterance :  "  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other  : 
for  there  is  none  other  name  given  under  heaven 
among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 

The  Christian  Church  has  always  been  profoundly 
touched  by  the  manner  of  Peter's  restoration  to 
office  after  his  great  fall.  It  took  place  at  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  after  a  second  miracle  of  a  multitudinous 
draught  of  fish,  similar  to  that  when  Jesus  had 
said  to  him,  "  Henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men." 
There  was  no  need  to  inquire  now  whether  Peter 
had  faith.  He  could  not  but  have  faith.  But 
it  was  desirable  to  inquire  whether  he  had  some- 
thing more,  something  that  springs  from  faith, 
but  is  more  than  faith— whether  he  had  that  per- 
sonal love  to  Christ  that  would  give  the  true 
tone  and  flavour  to  his  work  in  the  Church.  We 
observe,  however,  that  though  faith  was  not  the 
object  of  inquiry,  the  grace  sought  for  was  still  one 
of  which  Jesus  Himself  was  the  immediate  object. 
It  was  really  an  inquiry  as  to  whether  in  Peter's 
heart  Christ  held  the  place  of  supreme  regard,  and 
whether  Peter  was  prepared,  not  only  to  look  to 
Him  for  all  His  supplies  of  grace,  but  to  go  forward 
to  his  duty  in  the  Church  simply  as  His  servant 
and  deputy.  If  there  had  lurked  in  Peter's  mind 
a  vestige  of  any  independent  ambition— if  he  had 


246  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

not  been  prepared  in  simple  reliance  on  Christ,  and 
out  of  love  to  Him,  to  accept  the  charge  to  which 
he  was  called,  he  would  not  have  had  the  fore- 
most place  in  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

In  the  case  of  Thomas,  unbelief  had  got  the  hold 
which  it  sometimes  obtains  of  a  very  honest  but 
scrupulous  heart  which  is  really  longing  to  believe* 
but  which  fancies  that  it  must  have  evidence  not 
merely  sufficient  but  demonstrative.  Like  Jacob, 
when  told  that  his  son  Joseph  was  alive  and  governor 
of  Egypt,  he  could  not  at  first  take  in  such  blessed 
intelligence.  How  Jesus  overcame  the  unbelief  of 
Thomas  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  incidents  of 
the  post-resurrection  history.  But  all  these  in- 
cidents and  observations  go  to  establish  the  infinite 
importance,  in  order  to  ministerial  efficiency,  of  a 
right  view  of  the  Saviour's  person,  and  a  lively 
condition  of  the  graces  that  grasp  Him,  and  lean 
on  Him,  and  draw  from  Him.  The  object  of  all 
the  training  which  the  disciples  underwent  in 
relation  to  Christ's  person  may  be  gathered  from 
two  sayings — one,  Christ's  own,  the  other.  His 
apostle's:  "Without  me,  ye  can  do  nothing;" 
"  through  Christ  strengthening  me,  I  can  do  all 
things." 

III.  In  His  training  of  the  twelve,  we  find  our 
Lord  very  careful  to  wean  them  from  certain  carnal 
views  and  habits  natural  enough  to  the  human  heart, 
but  utterly  opposed  to  efficiency  in  the  service  of 
the  gospel. 

The  most  serious  of  these  carnal  views,  and  that 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  .     247 

which  was  most  frequently  cropping  up,  was  love 
of  pre-eminence — desire  for  greatness  in  the  king- 
dom of  Christ.  Now  it  is  a  dispute  among  tliem- 
selves  which  of  them  shall  be  greatest ;  now  it  is  a 
request  of  the  mother  of  James  and  John  that  they 
may  sit  on  His  right  hand  and  His  left  when  He 
comes  in  His  glory;  now  it  is  a  question,  put  in 
apparent  honesty,  Who  is  the  greatest  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  ?  That  such  a  spirit  should  have 
prevailed,  and  that  such  questions  should  have  been 
put,  must  have  been  deeply  trying  to  our  Lord. 
That  after  the  example  He  had  set  of  profoundest 
self-renunciation ;  after  the  way  He  had  met  the 
Tempter,  when  he  offered  Him  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world  and  the  glory  of  them;  after  all  His 
endeavours,  by  life  and  lesson  alike,  to  teach  humi- 
lity and  self-denial ;  after  all  His  efforts  to  inspire' 
them  with  higher  aims  and  nobler  purposes  of  life, 
they  should  still  be  squabbling  about  pre-eminence 
and  worldly  honour,  was  an  experience  fitted  to  try 
the  ni  jst  patient  heart,  and  to  disappoint  the  least 
sanguine  teacher. 

There  were  two  forms  which  this  temper  assumed 
— first,  a  general  craving  for  distinction  and  pre- 
eminence before  men  as  the  result  of  their  connec- 
tion with  Christ;  and  second,  a  particular  craving 
for  pre-eminence  one  over  another  within  the  sacred 
enclosure  of  His  Church.  Both  of  these  tendencies 
our  Lord  discouraged  to  the  utmost.  In  regard  to 
the  first,  the  craving  for  worldly  honour  and  dis- 
tinction. He  showed  it  to  be  utterly  unworthy  of 
the  children  of  heaven.  It  was  entirely  opposed  to 
the  order  ot  His  kinoxlom.     The  greatest  there  was 


248  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

the  servant  of  all.  Honour  there  did  not  come  from 
what  one  got,  but  from  what  one  gave.  Humility, 
self-repression,  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  others, 
were  the  great  sources  of  distinction  in  His  kingdom. 
The  Son  of  man  had  not  come  to  be  ministered 
unto  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom 
for  many.  The  servant  was  not  above  his  Master, 
nor  the  disciple  above  his  Lord.  The  high  and 
haughty  temper  of  the  world  could  find  no  place  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Whosoever  would  enter 
that  kingdom  must  become  a  little  child  ;  guileless- 
ness,  simplicity,  transparency,  humility,  were  the 
true  marks  and  tokens  of  its  members. 

In  regard  to  the  spirit  of  James  and  John,  and 
others  who  desired  pre-eminence  over  their  brethren, 
our  Lord  was  equally  decided.  The  government  of 
llis  kingdom  was  to  be  not  lordly  but  brotherly. 
One  Lord  they  had,  but  only  one.  One  Master 
alone  was  entitled  to  prescribe  their  course.  Their 
consultations  and  church  assemblies  were  to  be  car- 
ried on  with  a  clear  recognition  of  His  supreme 
authority,  and  with  the  single  object  of  finding  out 
His  will.  Calm  brotherly  consultation  and  prayer 
were  the  means  for  ascertaining  that  will.  Meetings 
of  this  kind  would  not  want  Divine  authority  and 
control :  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the 
end  of  the  world." 

How  needful  are  these  counsels  of  our  Lord  in 
every  age  !  How  prone  is  the  love  of  pre-eminence 
to  show  itself;  how  impatient  are  many  of  the  dull 
level  of  equality,  and  eager  for  places  of  artificial 
elevation  above  their  brethren !  How  continually 
and  earnestly  watchful  faithful  ministers,  especially 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  249 

those  conscious  of  the  higher  gifts,  would  need  to 
be  against  this  tendency!  What  constant  sup- 
plies they  would  need  from  Christ  Himself  to 
keep  down  self  at  every  corner  of  their  path,  and 
make  them  abound  in  the  charity  that  seeketh  not 
her  own ! 

It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  in  a  sense  our 
Lord  did  recognise  inequalities  among  His  servants. 
Three  of  His  apostles,  Peter,  James,  and  John,  were 
honoured  with  an  especial  share  of  His  confidence 
and  affection.     Two  of  them,  John  and  Peter,  had 
special  tokens  of  superior  consideration,  the  one  in 
being  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  the  other  in 
being  recognised  as  the  leader  of  the   band.     For 
Jesus  did  to  this  extent  acknowledge  the  .pre-emi- 
nence of  Peter.     "  Simon,  Simon,  Satan  hath  desired 
to  have  you  {vfjLd<;,  lyhiral,  the  whole  band),  that  he 
may  sift  you  (u/^a?)  as  wheat :  but  I  have  prayed  for 
thee  {singular),  that  thy  faith  fail  not:  and  when 
thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren."     Un- 
doubtedly the  Lord  singled  out  the  natural  leader 
of  the  band  for  special  prayer  and  a  special  charge 
in  the  hour  of  deadly  trial.     If  the  leader  could  be 
kept  from  falling  away  the  rest  would  be  saved. 
But  the  pre-eminence  which  our  Lord  thus  acknow- 
ledged was  simply  the  pre-eminence  of  natural  gifts 
and  spiritual  grace.     It  is  the  kind  of  pre-eminence 
that  shows  itself  by  capacity  for  difficult  and  it  may 
be  unpopular  service ;  by  readiness   to   labour,  by 
skill  and  tact  and  success  in  overcoming  difficulties, 
and  building  up  the  cause  of  Christ.     But  it  is  one 
thing  to  acknowledge  such  pre-eminence,  and  allow 
it  its  natural  sphere  of  successful  exercise ;  and  it 


250  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

is  another  thing  to  create  offices   of  pre-eminence 
without  Christ's  warrant,  and   accumulate   power, 
honour,  and  rank  upon  those  who  fill  them.     All 
this  is  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  Christ's  instructions. 
It  springs  from  the  carnal  policy  which  He  was  so 
eager  to  discourage.     One  ambition  only  is  worthy 
of  Christ's   disciples — to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  Master,  who  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto 
but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for 
many.     As  time  rolls  on,  and  the  clouds  of  fashion 
and  prejudice  are  scattered,  the  names  that  shine 
brightest  in  the  Christian  firmament  are  the  names 
of  those  who  have  surrendered  all  worldly  distinc- 
tions and  comforts,  and  consecrated  themselves  most 
thoroughly  to  the  service  of  Christ  and  of  humanity. 
Names  like  that  of  Livingstone  in  Africa,  Burns  in 
China,  and  Patteson  in  the  South  Sea  Islands,- are 
for  ever  acquiring  a  new  lustre  in  all  Christian  eyes 
— are  shining  out  with  a  ray  that  more  and  more 
resembles  that  of  the  "  bright  and  morning  star." 
How  miserable,  in  the  light  of  such  lives,  is  the 
spirit  that  schemes,  and  longs,  and  labours  for  worldly 
distinction  in  the  Church  of  Christ !     "  0  my  soul, 
come  not  thou  into  their  secret ;  unto  their  assembly, 
mine  honour,  be  not  thou  united  !" 

IV.  One  other  general  feature  we  notice  in  our 
Lord's  method  of  training  the  twelve, — His  desire 
to  enlarge  their  views,  to  deliver  them  from  all 
that  was  mean  and  petty,  and  make  them  in  these 
respects  worthy  children  of  their  Father  who  was 
'^n  heaven. 

Small  enough,  in  all  conscience,  the  views  and 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  251 

spirit  of  the  apostles  sometimes  were.  Even  James 
and  John,  two  of  the  elite,  were  narrow  enough  in 
their  proposal  that  they  should  command  fire  to 
come  down  from  heaven  and  consume  the  village  of 
the  Samaritans  that  would  not  receive  Him.  "  But 
he  turned  and  rebuked  them,  and  said,  Ye  know 
not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of.  For  the  Son 
of  man  is  not  come  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to 
save  them."  Was  ever  a  fuller  meaning  packed 
into  words  so  few,  or  was  ever  a  nobler  direction 
given  to  hearts  that  had  been  trailing  in  low  and 
unwholesome  levels  ?  How  unworthy  it  would  have 
been  of  the  Son  of  man  to  show  irritation  at  a 
personal  affront,  and  forget  His  noble  mission  in  the 
ignoble  desire  to  destroy  those  who  had  annoyed 
Him !  Doubtless  He  might  have  found  precedents 
in  abundance  in  the  doings  of  kings  and  conquerors 
without  number,  in  whose  eyes  the  greatest  of  all 
offences  has  been  to  thwart  their  projects  and  refuse 
them  homage.  How  much  higher  the  ambition  of 
Christ,  how  much  higher  the  ambition  to  which  He 
would  urge  His  servants,  to  be  ready  to  pass  by 
personal  slights  and  offences  in  the  absorbing  desire 
to  save  immortal  souls ;  to  brush  aside  in  this  spirit 
the  petty  affronts  of  which  little  men  are  ready  to 
make  so  much,  as  a  great  surgeon  would  disregard 
the  stinging  reproaches  of  an  excited  patient,  on 
whose  person  he  was  performing  an  operation 
mercifully  designed  to  relieve  his  suffering  and  to 
save  his  life ! 

So,  also,  when  John  reported  to  Jesus  that  they 
had  seen  one  casting  out  devils  in  His  name,  and 
they  forbade  him  because  he  followed  not  with  them 


252  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

— "  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Forbid  him  not,  for  he  that 
is  not  against  us  is  for  us."  His  mind  soars  high 
beyond  the  littleness  of  sectarianism,  beyond  the 
interests  of  the  denomination,  even  beyond  the 
interests  of  orderly  and  authorised  procedure.  In  a 
world  groaning  under  the  tyranny  of  Satan,  He 
rejoices  to  hear  of  any  one  who  is  working  to  set 
caiotives  free.  The  thought  of  their  good  fills  His 
soul ;  other  interests  are  petty  and  unworthy  in  com- 
parison of  this  grand  result,  the  eternal  salvation  of 
men. 

But  all  through  His  public  life,  and  all  through 
His  intercourse  with  the  twelve,  Jesus  showed  a 
largeness  of  heart  which  was  alike  grand  in  itself 
and  elevating  in  its  influence.  Peter  comes  to  Him 
to  ask  a  question  and  to  suggest  an  answer :  "  Lord, 
how  oft  shall  my  brother  trespass  against  me  and  I 
forgive  him  ?  Until  seven  times  1"  Evidently  Peter 
has  some  complacency  in  this  very  generous  pro- 
posal. But  how  utterly  is  it  eclipsed  by  the  soaring 
reply  of  the  Master :  "  I  say  not  unto  thee,  Until 
seven  times,  but  until  seventy- times  seven"!  And 
this  sublime  quality  of  the  Divine  forgiveness  is 
illustrated  by  the  debtor  whose  lord  forgave  him 
the  debt  of  ten  thousand  talents,  as  well  as  by  the 
father  of  the  prodigal  son,  who  forgives  him  heart 
and  soul,  and  loads  him  with  tokens  of  his  unchange- 
able affection.  A  lawyer  asks  Him,  Who  is  my 
neighbour  ?  He  gets  his  answer  in  the  parable  of 
the  good  Samaritan, — in  a  tale  of  bountiful  bene- 
ficence which  left  no  want  unsatisfied,  and  no  suffer- 
ing unsolaced.  If  we  inquire  into  the  quality  of  His 
miracles,  we  find  in  thefeedin"  of  the  multitude  and 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  253 

in  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes — miracles  that 
were  each  repeated — evidence  of  the  same  largeness 
of  heart,  a  heart  that  liked  to  be  beneficent  on  a 
princely  scale.  When  we  see  Him  among  the  sick, 
there  goes  virtue  out  of  Him  that  heals  them  all. 
When  He  surveys  the  toils  and  sufferings  of 
humanity,  the  offers  to  which  He  is  prompted  are 
offers  of  unlimited  richness  :  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye 
that  labour,  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest."  ''  He  that  drinketh  of  this  water  shall 
thirst  again  ;  but  he  that  drinketh  of  the  water  that 
T  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  unto  life  everlasting."  When  John  the 
Baptist  sends  his  messengers  to  make  that  strange 
inquiry  of  Jesus,  "  Art  thou  he  that  should  come, 
or  look  we  for  another  ?"  it  is  pleasing  to  Jesus  to 
be  able  to  give  His  answer  in  words  that  denote  the 
amplitude  of  the  blessings  which  He  dispenses : 
"  The  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk, 
the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead 
are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached 
to  them."  When  He  sends  forth  the  twelve  to  pre- 
pare His  way,  they  are  to  scatter  a  whole  cornucopia 
of  blessings  :  "  Heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers,  raise 
the  dead,  cast  out  devils ;  freely  ye  have  received, 
freely  give."  The  woman  that  was  a  sinner  is  for- 
given all ;  the  thief  on  the  cross  is  promised  that  he 
would  be  that  day  with  Christ  in  paradise ;  Peter  is 
reinstated  without  a  word  of  reproach ;  Thomas  is 
taken  on  his  own  terms,  and  restored  like  a  wander- 
ing star  to  his  orbit.  Finally,  when  the  apostles  get 
their  last  commission,  it  is  in  these  sublime  words : 


254  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE. 

'•  Go  }e  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature." 

This  grandeur  of  view  and  largeness  of  beneficent 
aim  on  the  part  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  very  remarkable 
feature.  On  the  part  of  one  sprung  from  the  lowei 
class  of  the  people,  accustomed  to  the  hard  lines 
and  scrimp  supplies  of  poverty,  who  to  all  ap- 
pearance had  no  resources  of  His  own  with  which 
to  devise  liberal  things,  this  imperial  generosity,  this 
world-wide  beneficence,  denoted  one  higher  than  the 
children  of  men.  Would  that  the  same  feature 
were  ever  reflected  by  His  Church,  both  in  its  col- 
lective capacity  and  in  its  individual  membership ! 
Let  us  at  least  try  to  cherish  the  thought  that 
narrowness  of  view  and  poverty  of  aim  and  expecta- 
tion are  not  in  keeping  with  the  bearing  of  Him 
who,  having  bought  His  Church  with  His  blood,  seeks 
to  endow  her  with  all  His  possessions,  and  to  bless 
her  with  all  spiritual  blessings.  Let  us  rise  above 
the  pettiness  of  mere  denominational  interests,  as  if 
the  great  thing  were  to  keep  all  we  can  for  ourselves 
and  our  brethren,  or  to  benefit  one  section  of  the 
Church,  no  matter  what  happens  to  the  rest.  Would 
that,  among  other  gifts,  our  ascended  Lord  would 
give  us  that  spirit  of  princely  spiritual  munificence 
which  spreads  its  blessings  over  the  whole  world, — 
that  nobility  of  soul  which  is  never  weary  of  for- 
bearing and  forgiving, — that  catholicity  of  heart 
which  looks  not  every  one  on  its  own  things,  but 
every  man  also  on  the  things  of  others ;  that  loyalty 
to  our  Lord  and  Saviour  which  will  never  be  satisfied 
until  there  is  heard  the  voice  of  many  angels  round 
about  the  throne,  and  the  living  creatures  and  the 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  TWELVE.  255 

elders,  the  number  of  them  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands,  saying  with 
a  loud  voice,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain 
to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and 
strength,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing !" 


CHAPTEE     XV. 

DEALINGS   WITH   DIFFERENT   CLASSES. 
I. — THOSE   OUTSIDE   THE   KINGDOM. 

The  point  which  we  now  reach  in  the  survey  of  our 
Lord's  ministry  is  one  of  great  practical  importance. 
For  the  great  object  of  the  Christian  ministry  is  to 
deal  with  all  classes  of  men,  in  order  to  bring  men 
into  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  to  transform  their 
character  once  they  are  there.  Our  labour  is  vain 
if  we  fail  to  turn  men  from  darknes,^  to  light,  and 
from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  and  to  carry 
them  on  from  stage  to  stage  in  the  life  of  faith  and 
holiness.  How  did  our  blessed  Master  go  about 
this  work  ?  Did  He  use  the  same  method  with  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men  ?  If  not,  how  and  on 
what  principles  did  He  vary  His  method  ?  These 
questions  will  afford  us  materials  for  very  interest- 
ing and  profitable  practical  study. 

The  first  and  most  memorable  thing  to  be  noted 
in  connection  with  our  Lord's  pastoral  dealings  with 
different  classes  is  His  habit  of  ranking  His  hearers 
in  two  great  divisions,  between  whom  there  was  a 
most  vital  difference.  Many  instances  of  this  will 
occur  to  every  one  familiar  with  the  Gospels.     It  is 

256 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  257 

quite  natural  that  Matthew,  who  of  all  the  Evan- 
gelists had  the  keenest  eye  for  contrasts,  should 
record  the  greatest  number  of  them.  It  is  remark- 
able, too,  that  before  noting  this  feature  in  our 
Lord's  ministry,  he  should  have  noted  it  in  John  the 
Baptist's,  or  rather,  should  have  recorded  John's 
forecast  of  the  searching  nature  of  the  ministry  of 
Jesus :  "  Whose  fan  is  in  his  hand,  and  he  will 
throughly  purge  his  floor,  and  gather  the  wheat  into 
his  garner ;  but  the  chaff  he  w^ill  burn  up  w^ith  un- 
quenchable fire." 

Accordingly,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  two 
classes  are  represented  by  the  two  gates,  the  two  ways, 
and  the  two  endings — life  and  destruction.  The  same 
division  is  made  in  the  summing  up  of  the  discourse, 
where  the  hearers  are  either  like  the  wise  builders 
that  built  on  the  rock,  or  the  foolish  that  built  on 
the  sand.  So  of  the  Ten  Virgins,  five  are  w^ise  and 
five  are  foolish ;  and  the  difference  is  anything  but 
trivial ;  the  wise  are  admitted  into  the  palace,  the 
foolish  are  irretrievably  shut  out.  The  parable  of 
the  Talents  recognises,  though  less  formally,  the  same 
division :  some  improve  their  talents  and  are  re- 
warded, others  wickedly  and  slothfully  neglect  them 
and  are  punished.  So,  likewise,  in  the  parable  of 
the  Sower ;  part  of  the  seed,  through  .various  causes, 
is  lost,  part  of  it  bears  fruit  in  varying  degrees. 

But  of  all  forms  in  which  Christ  taught  this  truth, 
the  most  solemn  and  impressive  is  the  parable  of  the 
Sheep  and  the  Goats.  The  great  assembly  here  divided 
into  two  is  not  limited  to  those  that  heard  Christ 
personally,  but  embraces  "  all  nations."  It  is  not 
easy  to  determine  the  precise  application  of  this 


258  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFEKEKT  CLASSES. 

parable.  But  the  division  of  the  whole  into  two 
parts  is  as  complete  as  when  a  shepherd  divides  his 
sheep  from  the  goats.  The  criterion  of  judgment  is 
remarkable — the  presence  or  the  absence  of  practi- 
cal sympathy  towards  the  brethren  of  Christ  in  their 
times  of  distress.  The  final  issue  is  described  in 
terms  of  simple  but  awful  distinctness :  "  These 
shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  but  the 
righteous  into  life  eternal." 

It  cannot  be  disputed,  that  as  our  Lord  looked 
over  the  people  that  listened  to  His  discourses,  there 
was  ever  before  His  mind  this  notion  of  the  twofold 
division  and  the  final  twofold  destiny.  It  v/as  a 
most  solemn  and  impressive  thought,  and  doubtless 
it  had  a  great  influence  in  quickening  His  ardour 
and  intensifying  His  appeals.  Yet,  naturally,  it  is 
a  thought  far  from  pleasant,  either  to  the  people  or 
to  the  preacher.  That  there  should  be  only  two 
paths  from  this  world  to  eternity,  ard  that  the  one 
should  issue  in  life  and  the  other  in  destruction,  is 
a  truth  anything  but  welcome  to  the  human  mind. 
Human  nature,  in  such  a  case,  makes  a  desperate 
effort  to  find  a  tertmm  quid.  Many  who  have  no 
reason  to  believe  that  they  have  entered  in  at  the 
strait  gate,  cannot  bring  themselves  to  think  that 
they  are  walking  on  the  road  to  destruction.  They 
would  fain  find  a  third  path,  not  quite  so  narrow  as 
the  one,  and  not  quite  so  broad  as  the  other,  and 
leading  up,  not  to  absolute  life  or  absolute  destruc- 
tion, but  to  something  between.  It  is  this  desperate 
reluctance  of  men  to  accept  our  Lord's  alternative 
that  makes  purgatory  so  attractive  in  the  Church  of 
Eome.    The  idea  that  our  state  for  ever  and  ever  is 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.       259 

to  be  finally  determined  by  our  conduct  in  this  short 
life  and  in  this  feeble  condition  of  being,  is  very 
unpopular,  and  men  are  ready  to  grasp  a  straw  in 
the  hope  of  extending  the  probation.  Liberal  theo- 
logy sets  aside  this  outstanding  feature  of  our 
Lord's  teaching,  makes  all  characters  to  shade  off', 
by  minute  touches,  into  one  another,  and  finds 
accommodation  for  all,  sooner  or  later,  in  the  house 
o£  many  mansions.  But  what  right  have  we  to  set 
aside  in  this  manner  the  great  lesson  of  our  Master? 
If  we  make  so  much  as  a  pretence  to  fidelity,  must 
we  not  teach  precisely  as  He  taught,  especially  in  a 
matter  of  such  vital  importance  ? 

Yet  nothing  could  be  more  miserable  than  to 
follow  Him  here  in  the  letter,  as  some  do,  without 
following  Him  in  the  spirit.  Men  that  have  heaven 
and  hell  for  ever  on  their  lips  are  not  ahvays  men 
whose  hearts  tremble  at  the  awfulness  of  the  differ- 
ence. Preachers  who  realise  profoundly  that  every 
member  of  their  audience  is  travelling  to  the  one 
place  or  to  the  other,  will  not  be  glib  and  easy  in 
their  references  to  them  ;  the  effect  of  their  profound 
conviction  will  come  out  more  in  the  intense  reality 
and  earnestness  both  of  their  preaching  and  their 
prayers,  and  in  the  directness  and  fervour  of  their 
appeals  to  their  hearers  at  once  to  accept  the  offers 
made  so  graciously  to  them  in  the  Gospel. 

Proceeding,  then,  on  this  great  division  of  the  two 
classes  of  hearers,  let  us  go  on  to  point  out  the  dif- 
ferences in  our  Lord's  method  of  dealing  with  the 
various  kinds  of  men  and  women  that  lay  on  either 
side  the  line. 


260  DEALINGS  WITH  DIfFEllENT  CLASSES. 

L  THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM. 

Ill  His  dealings  with  this  class,  the  most  impor- 
tant difference  was,  His  treatment  of  openly  lost 
sinners  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  respectable  but 
self-righteons,  and  therefore  non-justified  persons 
on  the  other. 

I.  His  treatment  of  the  openly  lost  was  one  of 
the  most  striking  features  of  His  whole  ministry. 
It  brought  on  Him  the  scorn  of  those  who  were 
incapable  of  understanding  a  noble  deed.  He  was 
nicknamed  "  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners." 
It  was  uttered  against  Him  as  a  reproach — "  This 
man  receiveth  sinners."  It  was  even  believed  by 
one  that  was  friendly  to  Him,  Simon  the  leper,  that 
had  He  been  a  prophet  He  would  have  disdained 
the  homage  of  the  woman  tliat  was  a  sinner.  Such 
persons  could  not  appreciate  the  spirit  that  longs  to 
save  the  lost,  nor  see  that  a  nature  so  pure  as 
Christ's  stood  in  no  more  danger  of  defilement  froni 
personal  contact  with  the  guiltiest  of  the  race,  than 
the  sunbeam  that  falls  on  the  dunghill. 

The  cases  in  which  Jesus  showed  kindly  consider- 
ation for  persons  steeped  in  guilt  were, — some  real, 
and  one  imaginary.  Of  the  former  was  the  case  of  the 
woman  of  Samaria;  that  of  the  woman  taken  in 
adultery;  that  of  the  woman  that  was  a  sinner;  and 
that  of  the  thief  on  the  cross.  The  imaginary  case 
was  that  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  It  is  to  be  observed 
of  these  cases,  that  the  persons  concerned  were  not 
all  roaming  and  rioting  in  the  pleasures  of  sin;  most 
of  them  had  been  brought  to  bay  either  by  the  law 
of  the  country,  or  the  circumstances  of  their  posi- 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  261 

tion;  so  that,  in  a  sense,  they  were  subdued.  In 
all  of  them  our  Lord  seems  to  have  apprehended 
a  similar  state  of  feeling ;  a  hopelessness  of  regain- 
ing their  lost  character  and  earthly  position,  far  less 
the  favour  of  God,  through  any  poiuer  inherent  in 
themselves  or  in  those  who  were  around  them  ;  as  far 
as  any  resources  of  their  own  were  concerned,  they 
were  consciously  lost.  If  anything  was  to  be  made 
of  such  persons  it  must  be  by  leading  them  to  look 
away  from  themselves,  and  giving  them  an  impressive 
sight  of  God  s  blessed  provision  for  saving  the  lost. 
Sometimes  our  Lord  formally  unfolded  the  provision 
of  grace ;  but  more  frequently  he  conveyed  the  sense 
of  it  in  a  less  formal  way.  To  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
He  said,  "  If  thou  hnewest  the  gift  of  God,  and  who  it 
is  that  saith  to  thee,  Give  me  to  drink,  thou  wouldest 
have  asked  of  him,  and  he  would  have  given  thee 
living  water."  Here  was  a  direct  proclamation  of 
God's  saving  grace ;  but  usually  it  was  made  known 
less  directly.  The  truth  is,  the  whole  of  Christ's 
earthly  career,  and  especially  His  miracles  of  heal- 
ing, were  exhibitions  of  the  grace  of  God.  If  you 
ask.  Why  did  not  our  Lord  pi^each  grace  more  ?  Why 
did  He  not  deliver  more  addresses  corresponding  to 
the  evangelistic  addresses  of  to-day  ?  the  answer  is, 

He  lived  grace.     His  whole  life  was  a  sermon  of 

grace.  The  tenderness  of  His  spirit,  the  readiness 
of  His  sympathy,  the  cordiality  of  His  manner,  the 
frankness  and  freeness  of  His  cures,  the  fervour  of 
His  invitations,  the  heavenliness  of  His  life,  were 
all  exhibitions  of  Divine  love,  and  were  thus  the 
means  of  rekindling  hope  where  its  lamp  had  long 
been  extinguished,  and  where  nothing  remained  but 


262  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

the  blackness  of  despair.  The  very  sight  of  Christ, 
the  interest  which  He  took  in  the  fallen,  the  very- 
looks  He  cast  on  them,  appear  in  some  instances  to 
have  kindled  a  new  sense  of  heavenly  goodness,  and 
a  new  faith  in  the  possibility  of  restoration  to  pardon 
and  to  purity,  when  the  dire  experience  of  lust  raging 
within,  and  the  cold  frown  of  the  respectable  world 
without,  had  quenched  all  faith  in  either. 

Some  of  these  lost  sinners  seem  first  to  have  been 
drawn  to  Christ  by  a  spirit  of  vague,  wistful  wonder, 
with  something  of  the  feeling  of  the  woman  who 
said,  "  If  I  may  but  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment,  I 
shall  be  made  whole."  What  made  the  woman  that 
was  a  sinner  wash  Christ's  feet  with  her  tears,  and 
wipe  them  with  the  hairs  of  her  head?  She  had 
not  been  forgiven  at  the  time ;  but  having  seen  and 
heard  Christ,  having  perhaps  heard  some  of  His 
parables  of  grace,  she  appears  to  have  felt  the  beat- 
ing of  a  long-lost  hope  in  her  bosom — felt  that  so 
gracious  a  Being  was  able  and  probably  willing  to 
raise  even  her  up  from  the  horrible  pit  and  the  miry 
clay,  to  fulfil  to  her  the  promise  in  Hesea,  giving 
her  the  valley  of  Achor  for  a  door  of  hope,  and 
making  her — poor  Uas^e  creature  though  she  was — 
to  sing  as  in  the  days  of  her  youth.  When  such  as 
she  entered  into  communication  with  Christ,  belief 
in  heavenly  grace  had  already  begun  to  dawn,  but 
vaguely  and  dimly ;  what  they  needed  was,  confir- 
mation of  their  flickering  trust,  a  solid  foundation 
for  hope  and  peace.  It  was  this  He  gave  to  the 
woman  that  was  a  sinner — "  Be  of  good  cheer,  thy 
sins  be  forgiven  thee  :"  and  to  the  thief  on  the  cross 
— "Verily  I  say  unto  thee.  To-day  shalt  thou  be 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  263 

with  me  in  paradise."  The  glimpse  of  grace  which 
they  had  got  when  yet  afar  off,  and  which  they  had 
cherished  so  lovingly,  was  changed  into  a  nearer  and 
most  satisfying  view.  Their  cry  from  the  depths 
was  answered  by  the  assurance  of  plenteous  redemp- 
tion ;  and  with  the  pulse  of  a  new  life  beating  in 
their  veins,  and  the  hope  of  glory  brightening  their 
future,  they  lifted  up  their  heads,  and  went  on  their 
way  rejoicing. 

The  pastoral  lesson  that  comes  from  this  for  deal- 
ing with  the  lowest  samples  of  humanity,  when 
subdued  and  brought  to  bay  by  the  evil  tenor  of  their 
lives,  is  obvious.  In  the  like  circumstances,  a  similar 
experience,  a  similar  despair  of  getting  out  of  the 
mire  of  sin  has  often  been  felt.  Probably  there  was 
a  reason  why  so  many  of  these  cases,  recorded  in  the 
Gospels,  were  cases  of  abandoned  women.  For  when 
a  woman  loses  herself  in  sensual  vice,  or  other  gross 
criminality,  the  ruin  is  more  thorough,  and  the  hope 
of  recovery  is  much  less  than  in  the  case  of  men. 
The  devil  can  make  shorter  work  with  the  weaker 
sex.  Christian  ladies  who,  in  visiting  prisons  and 
penitentiaries,  have  become  intimately  acquainted 
mth  criminal  women,  have  often  remarked  in  them 
a  peculiarly  hard,  reckless,  hopeless  state  of  mind. 
To  awaken  in  them  any  longing  for  a  better  life,  or 
any  belief  in  its  reality,  or  in  the  possibility  of  at- 
taining it,  has  often  been  most  difficult.  But  it  has 
been  strongly  felt  that  the  first  step  towards  restora- 
tion must  be  to  inspire  them  with  faith  in  the  reality 
and  possibility  of  recovery,  and  of  a  better  life. 
And  it  has  been  very  interesting  to  observe  cases  in 
which  the  very  beauty  and  purity  of  the  visitor's 


264     DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

own  spirit,  her  unwearied  love  and  patience  in  seek- 
ing the  poor  prisoner's  good,  was  the  first  step 
towards  that  prisoner's  reformation.  It  broke  up 
the  hard  crust  of  scepticism ;  it  broke  down  the  hard 
rebellious  spirit  that  refused  to  believe  in  the  exist- 
ence of  goodness  ;  it  dissipated  the  gloomy  suspicion 
that  had  persisted  in  ascribing  even  the  labour  of 
love  to  some  unknown  form  of  self-seeking.  And 
this  dawn  of  faith  in  the  reality  of  human  sympathy 
proved  a  blessed  stepping-stone  to  faith  in  tlie  good- 
ness and  sympathy  of  the  Divine  lledeeuier,  for 
the  goodness  of  the  lady-visitor  was  but  a  drop 
derived  from  the  great  ocean,  a  reflected  ray  of  the 
great  Sun  of  Righteousness.  It  was  easier  after 
this  to  lead  the  thoughts  to  the  fountain  for  sin  and 
uncleanness,  opened  for  the  house  of  David  and  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem.  The  life  of  Jesus  came 
to  have  a  reality  unknown  before,  and  the  doctrine 
of  redemption  through  His  blood  began  to  be  viewed 
with  the  eagerness  of  a  personal  interest.  Where- 
ever  our  aim  is  to  inspire  faith  in  the  reality  of  the 
Divine  goodness  nothing  is  more  important  tlian  that 
our  own  spirit  and  our  own  bearing  should  form 
steps  towards  the  great  conclusion.  And  wherever 
men  and  women  seem  hopelessly  sunk  in  sin,  the 
first  step  towards  their  recovery  is  when  they  see 
that  in  no  sense  is  it  from  within,  but  wholly 
from  without,  from  the  goodness  and  grace  of  God 
revealed  in  Christ,  that  their  deliverance  must  come. 

II.  Very  different  was  our  Lord's  treatment  of 
the  self-righteous.  While  to  the  consciously  lost 
and  hopeless  He  brought  near  the  grace  of  a  for- 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  265 

giving  God, — to  the  consciously  righteous  He  applied 
the  test  of  a  holy  law.  But  we  must  discriminate 
between  two  classes  embraced  in  the  term  self- 
righteous,  for  it  included  hypocrites,  living  in  sin, 
but  observant  of  all  the  ceremonies  of  religion ;  as 
well  as  a  class  of  sincere,  respectable  men,  who 
thought  that,  on  the  whole,  they  fulfilled  all  that 
was  required  by  the  law. 

In  reference  to  the  former,  the  perverted  Pharisees, 
whose  notion  of  righteousness  was  limited  to  cere- 
monial observances,  and  who  outraged  the  law  in  its 
weightier  obligations,  the  attitude  of  our  Lord  was 
that  of  stern  rebuke  and  indignant  denunciation. 
We  often  feel  surprised  at  the  tremendous  severity 
of  the  tone  in  which  He  inveighed  against  them. 
We  must  remember  His  remarkable  insight  into  the 
human  heart — a  circumstance  which  makes  His 
example  applicable  to  us  in  but  a  limited  degree. 
Still,  the  impression  remains  on  our  minds  that  there 
must  be  cases  in  which  even  for  us  the  proper  mode 
of  dealing  with  sin  is  that  of  stern  and  crushing 
rebuke.  There  are  cases  in  medicine  where  the  true 
treatment  is  to  administer  a  shock ;  and  there  are 
similar  cases  in  spiritual  disease.  It  is  evident  that 
religious  hypocrisy  was  surpassingly  odious  to  Christ. 
For  men  to  imagine  that  God  could  find  satisfaction 
in  a  round  of  ceremonies  while  judgment,  mercy,  and 
truth  were  trampled  on,  was  a  fearful  insult  to  the 
God  of  holiness.  Such  a  spirit  implied  a  terrible 
moral  levity — the  levity  that  could  degrade  the 
holiest  things  of  God,  and  trample  them  under  the 
feet  of  men.  In  such  a  state  of  mind  our  Lord  could 
discover  no  ground  for  that  faith  whose  very  nature 


266  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

it  is  to  look  up  to  the  High  and  Hol}^  One,  to  whom 
it  owes  all  reverence  and  submission.  To  speak  of 
the  love  and  grace  of  God  to  such  would  only  have 
been  to  cast  pearls  before  swine;  the  only  way 
to  do  them  real  good  was  to  shell  them,  as  it  were, 
out  of  their  position,  to  hurl  woe  upon  woe  against 
them,  if  perchance  they  might  be  terrified  into  belief 
in  a  righteous  Judge,  and  seeing  their  condition 
begin  to  ask.  What  mu&t  we  do  to  be  saved  ? 

It  was  in  this  way  that  our  Lord  taught  His 
ministers  most  emphatically  that  though  they  were 
to  be  ministers  of  grace  ^nd  reconciliation,  yet  the 
reproof  of  sin  would  ever  be  a  most  essential  though 
a  very  difficult  part  of  their  office.  "  Every  part  of 
the  duty  of  a  minister,"  says  a  distinguished  writer, 
"  is  more  easy  than  to  maintain  in  vigour  the  spirit 
he  needs  as  the  reprover  of  sin,  and  the  guardian  of 
virtue."^  Our  Lord  left  men  in  no  doubt  what  He 
thought  of  sin.  The  denunciations  of  it  which  He 
uttered  were  really  what  cost  Him  Kis  life.  And 
when  Peter  followed  Him  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
and  other  days,  he  was  equally  explicit.  He  ar- 
raigned his  hearers  as  murderers  of  the  Prince  of 
Life.  He  made  no  mystery  of  what  they  deserved. 
And  then,  when  their  anxious  faces  and  cries  of  dis- 
traction showed  that  his  words  had  told — that  they 
were  subdued  and  brought  to  bay,  he  brought  out 
for  them,  as  it  were,  that  grace  of  God  which  is  so 
rich  and  free  to  every  penitent,  and  he  promised 
them  all  the  blessings  of  redemption  through  the 
blood  of  the  very  man  whom  they  had  crucified  and 
slain. 

1  Saturday  Niphf,  by  Isaac  Taylor,  p.  183. 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  2G7 

The  other  class  of  self-righteous  persons  with 
whom  our  Lord  dealt  were  respectable  men,  with- 
out hypocrisy,  but  who  had  a  higher  opinion  of 
themselves  than  they  ought  to  have  had.  The 
young  ruler,  who  believed  that  from  his  youth  he 
had  kept  all  the  commandments,  was  one  of  these. 
So  also  were  some  to  whom  the  first  part  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  addressed — persons  who 
did  not  know  that  "  unless  their  righteousness  ex- 
ceeded that  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  they  could 
in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  In 
dealing  with  such  persons,  Christ's  method  was  to 
show  the  searching  nature  of  the  Divine  law,  and 
for  this  end  He  showed  them  that  the  law  imposed 
a  test  which  human  nature  could  not  endure.  He 
showed  that  the  word  of  God  was  quick  and  power- 
ful, sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword,  dividing  even 
between  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  that  it  was  a 
discern er  of  the  hearts  of  men.  A  lascivious  look  is 
adultery,  a  savage  feeling  is  murder.  This  is  tlie 
way  to  deal  with  respectable  formalism.  The 
spirituality  of  God's  nature,  and  the  corresponding 
spirituality  of  His  law,  show  how  hopeless  it  is  to 
expect  salvation  by  works.  He  that  sets  our  iniqui- 
ties before  Him,  our  secret  sins  in  the  light  of  His 
countenance ;  He  that  desires  truth  in  the  inward 
parts,  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity, 
and  who  cannot  look  upon  sin,  has  a  far  higher 
standard  of  judgment  than  most  suppose.  The  law 
by  its  veiy  nature  is  law ;  it  knows  no  relaxation 
and  no  indulgence ;  if  once  its  condemnation  falls 
upon  you,  "  thou  shalt  in  no  wise  come  out  thence 
till  thou  hast  paid  the  uttermost  farthing." 


268  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

III.  A  third  class  of  persons  outside  the  kingdom 
with  whom  our  Lord  had  often  to  deal  were  cavil- 
lers,— persons  who  sneered  in  their  hearts  at  His 
doctrine,  and  tried  to  trip  Him  up  before  the  people. 
It  was  one  of  the  most  memorable  features  of  His 
ministry,  that  He  was  always  so  ready  for  this  class, 
and  that  He  so  uniformly  succeeded  in  turning  their 
position,  and  in  making  their  very  cavils  the  occa- 
sion of  utter  defeat.  This  shows  the  thoroughness 
of  His  composure,  and  the  marvellous  discipline  of 
His  mind  and  command  of  His  faculties.  It  may 
likewise  be  regarded  as  an  indication  of  God's  readi- 
ness to  give  special  and  peculiar  help  to  those  who 
in  the  course  of  their  duty  are  exposed  to  such  cavils. 
Missionaries  to  the  heathen,  and  labourers  at  home 
who  come  in  contact  with  freethinkers,  may  find 
invaluable  hints  in  our  Lord's  method  of  dealing 
w^ith  this  class.  Among  His  various  ways  of  meet- 
ing them,  we  may  note  the  following : — 

1.  Appeals  to  the  paramount  authority  of  Scri'p- 

ture, — the  cavillers  in  this  case  being  persons 
who  admitted  that  authority.  Sometimes 
His  appeal  to  Scripture  was  in  the  direct 
form,  as  when  He  said  to  the  Sadducees,  who 
wished  to  throw  ridicule  on  the  resurrection, 
"Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriiotures  nor 
the  power  of  God."  Sometimes  it  was  to  a 
Scriptural  example :  "  Have  ye  never  read 
what  David  did,  how  he  entered  the  temple, 
and  did  eat  the  shewbread,  which  it  is  not 
lawful  for  any  but  the  priests  to  eat  ? " 

2.  Eef erring  the  thing  objected  to  to  an  admitted 

princiiole,  which  He  sometimes  brought  for- 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  269 

ward  as  a  proverb,  or  at  least  as  an  admitted 
maxim  of  common  sense.  How  could  He 
cast  out  devils  by  Beelzebub,  when  common- 
sense  might  show  them  that  no  kingdom 
divided  against  itself  could  stand?  His 
eating  with  publicans  and  sinners  need  not 
create  surprise,  since  every  one  knew  that 
"they  that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician, 
but  they  that  are  sick."  If  His  disciples  did 
not  adopt  all  the  ways  of  life  characteristic 
of  the  old  economy,  it  was  because  no  one  of 
common-sense  put  new  wine  in  old  bottles, 
or  a  new  patch  on  an  old  garment. 

3.  The  argumentum  ad  liomiiiem :  "  Which  of  you 

having  an  ox  or  an  ass  fallen  into  a  pit  on 
the  sabbath  day,  doth  he  not  straightway 
pull  him  out  ? " 

4.  Making  His  hearers  judges  in  a  supposed  similar 

case,  and  thus  getting  them  to  condemn  them- 
selves. The  parable  of  the  Two  Debtors  is  an 
example :  it  was  put  to  Simon,  who  had  been 
cavilling  in  his  heart  at  Christ's  treatment  of 
the  woman  that  was  a  sinner,  whether  the 
debtor  that  had  been  forgiven  much,  or  the 
one  who  had  been  forgiven  little,  had  most 
love  ;  and  when  Simon  gave  his  answer,  the 
vindication  of  the  woman,  and  of  Jesus' 
treatment  of  her,  was  complete. 

5.  Allegorical :  the  principle  being  the  same  as  in 

the  last  case,  but  no  formal  appeal  for  an 
answer  being  made  to  the  objectors.  In  such 
allegories  as  the  Prodigal  Son  and  the  Good 
Samaritan  the  point  objected  to  is  placed  in 


270  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

a  peculiarly  bright  and  convincing  light,  and 
the  position  of  Christ  vindicated  so  trium- 
phantly, that  the  objectors  seem  annihilated 
— they  are  not  to  be  found. 
6.  Dramatic,  as  when  He  set  a  child  in  the  midst 
of  the   company,  to   show  who   should   be 
greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Perhaps  the  most  instructive  thing  in  our  Lord's 
method  of  dealing  with  cavillers  was  His  frequent 
practice  of  using  their  cavils  as  pegs  on  which  to 
hang  some  of  His  most  beautiful  discourses.     The 
parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  for  example,  owed 
its  birth  to  the  question  of  a  lawyer,  "  Wlio  is  my 
neighbour  ?  " — the  object  of  the  lawyer  having  been 
to  tempt  Him.     Another  act  of  derision,  on  the  part 
of  the  Pharisees,  gave  rise  to  the  parable  of  the  Eich 
Man  and  Lazarus;  and,  to  give  but  one  other  in- 
stance, that  beautiful  word  to  the  young — the  very 
charter  of  their  standing  in  the  kingdom  of  God — 
"  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me,"  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  attempt  of  the  disciples  to  hinder  the 
parents  from  bringing  their  children  to  Him.     This 
practice  of  our  Lord's,  of  making  man's  captiousness 
a  mint  to  coin  heavenly  treasure — of  turning  man's 
exhibitions   of  malice  and  evil  into  occasions  for 
bringing  forth  the  riches  of  Divine  grace — of  making 
heavenly  wisdom  spring  from  the  soil  of  folly — was 
a  very  remarkable  one,  and  might  of  itself  have 
justified   the  saying,    "  Never   man   spake  as   this 
man."     In  nature  nothing  is  more  remarkable  than 
the  manner  in  which  beauty  springs  from  the  womb 
of  corruption ;  the  rotten  leaves  of  past  years  feed 
the  plants  and  enlarge  the  produce  of  the  future ; 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  271 

the  very  dunghill  becomes  the  nursery  of  the 
choicest  flowers,  the  most  fragrant  smells,  and  the 
most  delicious  fruits.  The  origin  of  evil  has  always 
been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  an  inscrutable 
mystery ;  but  that  which  throws  most  light  on  it 
is,  the  way  in  which  the  sin  of  man  is  made  to 
illustrate  the  grace  of  God.  The  same  thing  is  true 
of  the  use  which  our  Lord  made  of  the  annoyances 
which  He  encountered  so  often  in  His  work.  The 
way  in  which  these  spurts  of  malice  became  occa- 
sions for  the  manifestation  of  surpassing  wisdom  and 
grace  was  typical  of  the  grand  culminating  fact  of 
Calvaiy,  where  the  greatest  crime  that  miscreants 
ever  committed  became  the  occasion  of  the  most 
glorious  act  of  love  that  God  or  man  ever  conceived. 

IV.  A  fourth  class  of  persons  outside  the  king- 
dom with  whom  our  Lord  had  dealings  were  those 
who  remained  unbelieving  and  impenitent,  notwith- 
standing all  that  He  said  and  did   among  them. 
Here,  too,  as  in  the  case  of  the  ungodly  self-righte- 
ous, our  Lord's  language  was  very  severe :    "  Woe 
unto  thee,  Chorazin  !  woe  unto  thee,  Bethsaida !  for 
if  the  mighty  works,  which  were  done  in  you,  had 
been  done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,    they    would  have 
repented  long  ago  in   sackcloth   and   ashes.     But 
I  say   unto   you.   It   shall   be   more  tolerable   for 
Tyre  and  Sidon  at  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for 
you.      And  thou,   Capernaum,   which   art   exalted 
unto  heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell ;  for  if 
the  mighty  works,  which  have  been  done  in  thee, 
had  been  done  in  Sodom,  it  would  have  remained 
until  this  day.     But  I  say  unto  you,  That  it  shall  be 


272  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  iii  the  day  of 
judgment  than  for  thee."  And  again  :  "  The  men 
of  Nineveh  shall  rise  in  judgment  with  this  genera- 
tion, and  shall  condemn  it ;  because  they  repented 
at  the  preaching  of  Jonas ;  and,  behold,  a  greater 
than  Jonas  is  here.  The  queen  of  the  south  shall 
rise  up  in  the  judgment  with  this  generation,  and 
shall  condemn  it:  for  she  came  from  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon ; 
and,  behold,  a  greater  than  Solomon  is  here." 

The  tone  of  rebuke  in  these  passages  is  so  similar 
to  that  of  the  words  directed,  as  we  have  seen, 
against  ungodly  hypocrisy,  as  to  lead  us  to  conclude 
that,  in  the  judgment  of  Christ,  to  trample  on  God's 
law  and  to  reject  God's  Son  are  offences  of  equal 
magnitude.  This  is  a  conclusion  that  the  world 
will  not  readily  accept.  To  tread  on  the  moral  law, 
it  is  allowed,  indicates  a  very  disorderly  nature, 
and  to  continue  to  do  so  against  all  remonstrance 
and  call  to  repentance  and  reformation  exposes  one 
to  just  retribution.  But  declining  to  acknowledge 
the  claims  of  Christ,  and  declining  to  receive  sal- 
vation at  His  hands,  are  acts  which  many  place  in 
a  very  different  category.  What  we  are  to  think  of 
Christ  is  matter  of  opinion,  and  it  were  hard  to 
treat  those  who  are  not  impressed  by  His  claims  as 
if  they  were  thieves  or  liars.  Against  this  it  is 
enough  to  place  the  solemn  judgment  of  Christ  that 
Tyre  and  Sid  on,  and  Sodom  itself,  were  less  guilty 
than  Chorazin,  Bethsaida,  and  Capernaum.  The 
great  sin  of  the  latter  cities  was  rejection  of  Christ; 
the  older  cities  were  full  of  scandalous  sins,  some 
of  them   sins    of   sensuality,   outwardly  the   most 


THOSE  OUTSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  273 

stinking  and  offensive  of  all.  But  if  the  moral  law 
is  a  reflection  of  the  Divine  attributes,  and  on  that 
account  worthy  of  our  highest  reverence,  so  also 
is  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  Eejection  of  Christ 
involves  the  same  antacronism  to  God  as  the  vio- 
lation  of  His  law  :  especially  when  Christ  is  re- 
jected in  such  circumstances  as  those  in  which 
the  Galilean  cities  rejected  Him, — amid  a  blaze 
of  miracles  that  might  have  convinced  the  most 
incredulous.  To  refuse  to  own  Him  thus,  when  He 
comes  bringing  salvation,  argues  an  inveteracy  of 
opposition  betokening  the  carnal  mind  which  is 
enmity  against  God. 

One  purpose  of  this  tone  of  sharp  rebuke  in 
the  case  of  unimpressed  hearers,  as  in  the  case  of 
godless  formalists,  was  doubtless  to  startle  them, 
and  give  them  a  last  chance,  as  it  were,  of  escaping 
the  consequences  of  their  guilt.  There  is  nothing 
in  our  Lord's  tone  to  indicate  that  sense  of  wounded 
vanity  on  His  part  which  you  often  find  in  the 
rebukes  of  men  ambitious  of  a  popularity  which 
they  have  not  attained.  In  His  severest  repri- 
mands we  may  note  an  undertone  of  compassion, 
the  feeling  that  burst  forth  so  as  to  overpower 
Him  when  He  foretold  the  doom  of  Jerusalem, — 
Jerusalem  that  stoned  the  prophets  and  killed  them 
that  were  sent  to  her.  In  most  cases  the  tone  is 
that  of  the  righteous  judge.  If  men  sin  wilfully 
after  they  "have  received  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins, 
but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and 
fiery  indignation,  which  shall  devour  the  adver- 
saries." It  is  an  awful  proof  of  the  viciousness  of 
.    s 


274  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

sin  that  through  the  revelation  of  a  Father's  love 
and  a  Saviour's  grace  it  is  capable  of  being  aggra- 
vated to  greater  degrees  of  criminality,  and  of 
leading  on  to  a  more  fearful  doom.  Surely  we  may 
gather  from  this  that  no  ministry  can  be  faithful 
which  does  not  solemnly  reprove  and  warn  all  who 
refuse  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  must  not  be 
afraid  to  tell  them  what  Christ  declared,  that  the 
men  of  Nineveh  will  rise  up  in  the  judgment  against 
them  to  condemn  them.  Our  warnings,  delivered 
in  the  right  spirit,  may  be  the  means  of  startling 
them  into  repentance ;  anyhow,  we  shall  dispel  the 
delusion  that  the  death  of  Christ  justifies  indiffer- 
ence to  the  real  nature  of  sin,  or  that  there  is  any 
way  but  that  of  personal  acceptance  of  Him,  and 
continual  communion  with  Him,  by  which  we  may 
flee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 
n. — THOSE  ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  supernatural  powers  of  Jesus, 
His  popularity  as  a  teacher,  the  boldness  of  His  tone, 
and  the  originality  of  His  thoughts  drew  great  mul- 
titudes after  Him.  In  these  multitudes  were  per- 
sons of  all  possible  degrees  of  spiritual  earnestness, 
between  a  mere  vague  curiosity  at  the  one  extreme, 
and  an  intense  desire  for  salvation  at  the  other. 
Many  might  be  described  as  just  hovering  about  the 
gate  of  the  kingdom,  not  always  conscious  of  their 
motives,  but  accessible  to  Christ's  influence,  and 
receiving  from  Him  the  treatment  which  He  deemed 
most  suitable  for  their  case.  In  this  chapter  we 
are  to  consider  some  of  these  cases.  How  did  our 
Lord  deal  with  those  who  had  some  desire  to  follow 
Him,  but  whose  minds  were  not  made  up ;  or  how 
did  He  deal  with  those  who  had  a  genuine  desire  to 
be  members  of  His  kingdom,  but  needed  guidance 
and  encouragement  to  fix  their  choice  ? 

I.  The  first  remark  suggested  by  these  questions  is, 
that  our  Lord,  in  various  ways,  signified  His  dislike 
to  a  mixed  multitude  of  followers, — a  mere  cou- 

275 


276  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

glomerate  of  so-called  disciples,  not  bound  together 
any  more  tlian  they  were  bound  to  Him  by  any 
spiritual  tie.  He  had  none  of  that  weak  complacency 
in  mere  numbers,  which  in  these  days  of  statistics 
and  social  rivalry  among  cliurches  are  often  exalted 
far  above  their  true  worth.  When  people  came  to 
Him  through  inferior  motives,  He  did  not  repel 
them  absolutely,  as  we  shall  see.  He  sought  to 
raise  them  to  a  higher  point  of  view ;  but  He  did 
not  encourage  such  motives,  and  He  was  by  no 
means  satisfied  when  they  rose  no  higher.  It  seems 
to  have  been  because  the  mere  fame  of  His  miracles 
brought  this  unsatisfactory  kind  of  people  too  much 
about  Him  that  after  performing  a  cure  He  so  often 
added  the  injunction :  "  See  thou  tell  no  man." 
Sometimes,  when  the  proportion  of  this  kind  of 
people  was  too  large.  He  would  take  steps  to  thin 
their  ranks,  either  by  going  up  into  a  mountain,  or 
by  crossing  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  lake. 
When  He  did  see  multitudes  under  some  kind  of 
oenuine  anxiety,  He  was  moved  with  compassion 
towards  them ;  yet  He  evidently  felt  that  it  was  not 
the  best  employment  of  His  strength  to  work  among 
a  mass.  By  drawing  a  few  men  and  women  to- 
gether, who,  being  filled  with  His  spirit,  should 
be  living  disciples,  He  would  in  the  end  convey  a 
far  better  impression  of  the  kingdom,  and  draw  men 
more  effectually  towards  it,  than  by  having  a  great 
crowd  01  nominal  followers,  most  of  them  with  a 
name  to  live,  but  really  dead.  "  Fear  not,  little 
flock,"  He  said,  "for  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure 
to  give  you  the  kingdom."  Their  being  a  little 
flock  was  rather  a  help  than  a  hindrance  to  their 


THOSE  ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  THE  KINGDOM.   277 

subduing  the  world.  Every  true  missionary  to  the 
heathen  shares  this  feeling.  A  little  church  of 
living  believers  is  a  far  more  efficient  evangelising 
agency  than  a  big  church  with  a  mass  of  worldly- 
minded  adherents.  The  policy  pursued  by  certain 
missionaries  of  the  Church  of  Eome  among  the 
heathen,  to  draw  to  theirbanner,  by  whatever  means, 
a  mass  of  nominal  proselytes,  is  the  very  opposite 
of  the  course  deliberately  adopted  by  our  Lord. 
The  notion  of  what  is  called  "  a  national  church," 
in  the  sense  of  Hooker  or  of  Coleridge, — a  church 
co-extensive  with  the  nation,  and  embracing  all  and 
sundry  in  its  ample  pale,  although  there  may  be  no 
spiritual  cohesion  among  them — is  likewise  opposed 
to  His  idea.  "  Herein  is  my  Father  glorified,"  He 
said,  "  that  ye  bear  much  fruit :  so  shall  ye  he  my 
disci2yles."  "  Why  call  ye  me  Lord,  Lord,"  He  once 
asked  with  indignation,  "and  do  not  the  things 
which  I  say  ? "  "  If  a  man  abide  not  in  me,  he  is 
cast  forth  as  a  branch,  and  is  withered ;  and  men 
gather  them  and  cast  them  into  the  fire,  and  they 
are  burned." 

II.  This  serves  to  explain  a  second  fact — the  use 
by  our  Lord  of  very  searching  tests  in  accepting 
disciples,  and  the  faithful  announcement  to  them 
beforehand  of  the  earthly  loss  and  suffering  that 
Avere  almost  certain  to  follow  their  connection  with 
Him.  He  did  not  wish  men  to  become  His  disciples 
without  counting  the  cost,  and  the  cost,  as  He  Him- 
self reckoned  it,  was  far  from  light.  The  scribe 
that  was  willing  to  follow  Him  whithersoever  He 
went  was  reminded  that  the  foxes  had  holes,  and 


278  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

the  birds  of  the  air  had  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man 
had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  To  many  it  seems 
somewhat  hard  in  Jesus  to  refuse  the  request  of  the 
two  disciples  to  be  allowed  to  follow  Him,  when  the 
one  of  them  only  wished  to  bury  his  father,  and  the 
other  to  bid  farewell  to  those  in  the  house.  More 
general  but  hardly  less  stringent  was  the  test  for 
all :  "  If  any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself  and  take  up  his  cross  daily  and  follow  me." 
And  again :  "  If  any  man  come  to  me,  and  hate  not 
his  father,  and  mother,  and  wife,  and  children,  and 
brethren,  and  sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he 
cannot  be  my  disciple."  In  the  6th  chapter  of 
John  our  Lord  pursued  a  course  of  remark,  of  the 
effect  of  which  it  is  said :  "  From  that  time  many 
of  his  disciples  went  back,  and  walked  no  more 
with  him."  Obviously  His  purpose  was  to  impress 
the  truth  that  true  discipleship  was  a  much  pro- 
founder  thing  than  many  of  the  people  supposed. 
The  line  which  He  followed  makes  it  clear  that 
He  would  not  have  approved  the  practice  some- 
times followed  at  revival  meetings — to  ask  all  to 
stand  up  who  have  in  their  hearts  decided  for  Christ. 
Our  Lord  would  rather  have  put  them  through  a 
course  of  probation,  before  either  asking  or  accept- 
ing such  a  declaration.  No  one  can  suppose  that 
He  would  have  subjected  to  needless  discouragement 
any  one  whose  interest  was  excited  towards  Him 
even  by  insufficient  considerations ;  nevertheless  it 
is  certain  that  our  Lord  deemed  it  right  not  to 
accept  too  readily  the  profession  of  discipleship.  It 
was  in  the  same  line  that  His  thoughts  were  moving 
in  the  parable  of  the  Sower.     The  seed  that  fell  on 


THOSE  ON  THE  BOKDERS  OF  THE  laXGDOM.   279 

stony  ground  and  the  seed  that  fell  among  thorns 
had  the  same  promising  look  at  first  as  the  seed 
that  fell  in  good  soil ;  nevertheless  He  taught  that 
the  early  promise  would  not  be  realised.  And  both 
He  and  His  apostles  foretold  clearly  that  the  Church, 
especially  in  its  earlier  ages,  would  be  exposed  to 
ordeals  of  great  severity,  and  so  of  great  sifting 
power.  The  whole  book  of  the  Apocalypse  evinces 
the  vastly  important  part  which,  in  the  providence 
of  God,  persecution  was  to  play  in  determining  the 
reality  of  men's  professions  of  conversion.  And 
all  goes  to  establish  that  our  Lord  felt  profoundly 
the  significance  and  vital  importance  of  true  dis- 
cipleship.  From  this  we  infer  that  to  admit  persons 
lightly  and  easily  to  the  responsibilities  of  disciple- 
ship  as  some  do  now,  is  contrary  to  the  mind  of 
Christ ;  and  that  the  profession  of  young  disciples 
ought  to  be  asked  and  accepted  only  as  the  result 
of  much  solemnity,  deliberation,  and  earnest  prayer. 
All  this,  however,  is  perfectly  in  accordance  with 
the  absolute  freeness  of  the  Gospel  offer,  and  the 
gi'eat  longing  desire  of  Jesus  that  all  men  should 
come  to  Him  at  once  and  receive  His  blessinsf. 
His  object  was  to  lead  men  to  cherish  from  the 
first  a  due  sense  of  the  infinite  worth  of  His  salva- 
tion, so  that,  like  Paul,  if  rivals  to  Him  should 
present  themselves,  they  might  "count  all  things 
but  loss  for  him — might  count  them  but  dung  to 
win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  him." 

III.  The  preceding  particulars  are  more  negative 
than  positive.  More  directly,  we  now  remark  that 
it  was  our  Lord's  practice  to  endeavour  to  raise  to  a 


280  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

higher  level  all  that  came  to  Him  with  comparatively 
earthly  aims — making  use  of  the  benefit  or  blessing 
which  they  did  prize  to  suggest  the  idea  of  what 
was  higher,  and  to  excite  their  hearts  towards  it. 

1.  The  first  case  of  this  kind  we  mention  is  con- 
nected with  the  miracle  of  the  Loaves  and  Fishes. 
The  miracle  had  been  wrous^ht  on  the  east  side  of  the 
lake,  and  Jesus  had  returned  by  boat  to  Capernaum, 
when  next  day,  many  of  those  who  had  seen  the 
miracle,  finding  Jesus,  seemed  desirous  of  having 
more  of  His  company,  with  the  hope,  probably,  that 
their  bodily  wants  would  be  again  supplied.  Our 
Lord  appears  to  have  had  good  grounds  for  charging 
these  people  with  a  very  carnal  purpose — with  seek- 
ing Him  because  they  did  eat  of  the  loaves,  and  were 
filled.  Eealising  how  wretched  a  motive  this  was, 
while  He  whom  they  followed  was  able  to  bestow 
on  them  such  infinitely  higher  blessings,  He  said : 
"  Labour  not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but  for 
that  meat  which  endureth  unto  everlasting  life, 
which  the  Son  of  man  shall  give  unto  you."  On 
the  basis  of  what  they  had  done  He  sought  to  in- 
spire them  with  a  far  loftier  desire.  If  they  had 
counted  it  worth  while  to  follow  Him  for  the  sake 
of  a  mouthful,  the  good  of  which  would  last  but  for 
an  hour,  how  much  more  worth  their  while  was  it 
to  come  to  Him  for  that  bread  of  life,  of  which  who- 
soever ate  should  never  hunger  again?  This,  of 
course,  gave  rise  to  a  conversation  and  inquiry  as  to 
whether  Jesus  really  was  in  possession  of  this  bread 
from  heaven.  On  that  point  He  made  the  most 
explicit  assertion  of  His  power.  What  He  said  did 
not  fall  into  good  soil  in  the  case  of  many ;  they 


THOSE  OX  THE  BOKDERS  OF  THE  KINGDOM.        281 

were  offended  on  account  of  the  magnitude,  the 
sublimity  of  the  claim  which  He  presented.  But 
it  may  be  that  iu  the  case  of  some  the  course  which 
He  urged  struck  home  to  the  conscience.  Certainly 
there  is  no  more  fruitful  means  of  rousing  the  con- 
science, in  the  case  of  men  who  believe  in  eternal 
life,  and  in  the  power  of  Jesus  to  bestow  it,  than  to 
contrast  the  earnestness  of  then-  efforts  for  the  things 
of  time  with  the  feebleness  of  their  endeavours  after 
the  blessings  of  eternity. 

2.  Another  case  is  that  of  the  blind  man  in  the 
9th  chapter  of  John.  He  had  received  his  sight; 
he  had  stood  up  boldly  for  Jesus  in  the  synagogue ; 
for  this  he  had  been  expelled ;  and  after  his  expul- 
sion Jesus  met  him.  Though  our  Lord  had  restored 
his  sight,  he  was  not  done  with  him.  He  put  the 
question  to  him :  "  Dost  thou  believe  on  the  Son 
of  God?"  When  he  asked.  Who  is  he?  Jesus 
answered :  He  who  now  speaks  to  you.  We  know 
not  precisely  through  what  process  the  man's  mind 
passed ;  but  he  comes  out  very  decidedly  with  an 
acknowledgment  of  his  faith,  and  this  he  follows  up 
very  devoutly  with  an  act  of  worship.  Though  we 
cannot  trace  the  process  in  detail,  we  see  what  it 
must  have  been  essentially.  Evidently  Jesus  wished 
him  to  know  that  there  were  far  hi" her  blessings  to 
be  received  from  Him  than  the  recovery  of  sight, 
and  to  excite  in  his  bosom  a  desire  for  these.  Speak- 
ing of  Himself  as  the  Son  of  God,  He  conveyed  the 
thought  that  as  the  Son  He  had  control  over  all  the 
stores  of  heaven — the  Father  had  committed  them 
to  His  hand.  The  poor  man  understood  the  sug- 
gestion, grasped  the  thought  that  all  spiritual  bless- 


282  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

ings  were  in  Christ's  hands,  felt  it  to  be  especially 
refreshing  when  he  had  just  been  expelled  from  the 
synagogue,  professed  his  faith  in  Jesus,  and  fell  at 
His  feet  to  worship  Him.  This  was  a  case  far  more 
successful  than  the  last :  a  new  subject  was  gained 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

3.  Next  let  us  glance  at  the  case  of  Zaccheus.  AYe 
cannot  tell  all  his  motives  for  wishing  to  get  a  sight 
of  Jesus  ;  but,  on  the  face  of  the  narrative,  curiosity 
would  seem  to  have  had  a  leading  share.  But  this 
curiosity  may  have  had  something  substantial  at  its 
root;  he  may  have  heard  Jesus  spoken  of  as  the 
friend  of  publicans  and  sinners,  and  his  conscience 
may  have  testified  very  loudly  that  he  stood  greatly 
in  need  of  such  a  friend.  Because  he  was  little  of 
stature  he  ran  before  and  climbed  up  into  a  syca- 
TQore  tree ;  and  as  Jesus  passed  the  tree  he  looked 
up  and  saw  him,  and  said,  "  Zaccheus,  come  down  ; 
for  to-day  I  must  abide  at  thy  house."  If  Zaccheus 
had  heard  of  Christ  as  the  friend  ot  publicans  and 
sinners,  nothing  could  have  better  illustrated  His 
character.  The  very  summons  must  have  thrilled 
his  soul.  For  him  to  be  selected  from  among  all 
the  men  of  Jericho  as  the  host  of  Jesus  ;  for  him  to 
come  into  such  close  contact  with  the  Lord  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven ;  what  significance  was  there  in 
this  !  What  grace  was  there  in  selecting  him ;  but 
what  need  of  a  great  reformation  in  his  heart  and  in 
his  house,  if  he  was  to  be  worthy  to  entertain  Jesus! 
The  curiosity  that  had  sought  to  see  Jesus  was 
changed  into  a  far  higher  feeling ;  the  elevation 
gained  by  climbing  into  the  sycamore  tree  became 
the  symbol  of  a  far  greater  elevation.     The  change 


THOSE  ON  THE  BORDEES  OF  THE  KINGDOM.   283 

in  Zaccheus  showed  itself  in  the  new  life  he  pur- 
posed to  lead :  the  very  sight  of  Christ,  poor,  simple, 
beneficent,  and  self-denied,  seems  to  have  made  his 
old  life  look  black  and  hideous,  and  to  have  made 
him  most  sincere  and  cordial  in  the  new  ways  and 
habits  he  was  resolved  to  follow. 

4.  Going  a  step  higher,  we  come  to  the  case  of 
Nicodemus.  The  ruler  in  Israel,  when  he  came  to 
Jesus  by  night,  was  moved  by  something  higher 
than  curiosity :  he  longed  for  heavenly  light ;  and 
he  believed  he  should  get  it  from  this  teacher  sent 
from  God.  But  Mcodemus  has  hardly  uttered  his 
introductory  word  wlien  he  is  at  once  transported 
by  Jesus  to  a  far  higher  level  than  that  which  he 
had  proposed  to  occupy  :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
thee.  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God."  All  are  familiar  with  the  course 
of  thought  along  which  our  Lord  now  conducted 
him.  It  is  a  striking  example  of  the  practice  we 
speak  of — taking  hold  of  the  actual  feeling  of  the 
inquirer  in  order  to  make  it  the  stepping-stone  to 
something  far  higher  and  better. 

5.  The  last  case  we  notice  under  this  head  is  that 
of  the  Greeks  who  had  come  up  to  the  Passover, 
and  who  had  expressed  the  desire  to  see  Jesus.  But 
in  this  case,  as  in  some  of  the  rest,  we  can  but  guess 
the  motive  that  prompted  the  desire.  Nor  are  we 
told  w^hether  Jesus  had  any  actual  communication 
with  these  Greeks,  nor  whether  their  desire  termi- 
nated in  faith.  All  that  we  are  told  is,  that  some- 
how the  fact  made  a  deep  impression  on  Him,  and 
led  Him  into  a  very  solemn  and  lofty  region  of  con- 
templation.    He  seems  to  have  regarded  the  desire 


284  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

of  these  Greeks  as  symLolical  of  that  feeling  which 
would  thereafter  be  directed  by  men  of  all  nations 
toward  the  Cross  and  Him  who  was  nailed  to  it. 
He  almost  fancied  Himself  already  dead,  and  by 
His  death  bringing  life  and  salvation  to  the  wide- 
spread family  of  man.  He  introduced  that  beauti- 
ful and  significant  figure — the  corn  of  wheat,  which, 
if  it  lives,  abides  alone,  but  if  it  dies,  bears  much 
fruit.  In  this  way  He  improved  the  occasion  of 
some  strangers  desiring  to  see  Him  by  elevating 
the  views  of  the  disciples,  and  leading  them  to  feel 
that  an  event  was  about  to  take  place  which  to  the 
end  of  time  would  draw  eyes  and  hearts  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  draw  them,  not  from  any 
motive  of  curiosity,  but  because  in  Christ  crucified 
they  would  see  by  faith  the  death  of  sin  and  the 
triumph  of  grace ;  and  thus,  "  believing,  rejoice  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory." 

IV.  A  fourth  and  very  important  feature  of  our 
Lord's  method  of  dealing  with  those  on  the  borders  of 
the  kingdom  was,  His  constantly  pressing  the  duty  of 
faith,  and  associating  with  it  the  liighest  blessings. 

Matthew  is  the  Evangelist  who  calls  attention 
most  systematically  to  this  feature  of  His  ministry. 
About  a  dozen  instances  may  be  gathered  from  his 
Gospel  in  which  it  is  said  that  the  presence  of  faith 
procured,  or  its  absence  hindered,  the  communica- 
tion of  some  Divine  blessing.  The  faith  which  was 
most  commonly  called  for  was  the  faith  of  healing. 
"Believest  thou  that  I  am  able  to  do  this  ?"  was  a 
common  question  before  the  cure  took  place.  It 
seemed  right  to  our  Lord  not  to  bestow  cures  unless 


TUOSE  ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  THE  KINGDOM.        285 

there  was  evidence  of  a  respectful  sense  of  His 
power  and  willingness  to  effect  them.  But  the  faith 
which  Christ  rewarded  was  sometimes  of  a  higher 
and  more  spiritual  kind.  In  such  cases  it  was  faith 
in  His  power  to  forgive  sin — faith  in  His  power  to 
save.  These  two  kinds  of  faith  had  a  relation  to 
each  other,  corresponding  to  the  relation  of  the  two 
kinds  of  blessings.  As  the  temporal  blessing  of  heal- 
ing was  typical  of  the  spiritual  blessing  of  salvation, 
so  the  faith  that  received  the  lower  blessing  was 
typical  of  that  which  received  the  higher.  The 
essential  quality  of  the  faith  which  our  Lord  recog- 
nised in  all  cases  was  its  receptivity — its  capacity  of 
receiving :  but  when  this  capacity  extended  only  to 
the  typical  good  it  received  only  the  typical  blessing; 
when  it  extended  to  the  higher  good,  it  received  the 
blessing  of  salvation.  Sometimes  there  was  a  double 
receptivity,  as  io  the  case  of  the  paralytic  let  down 
from  the  roof.  In  his  case  the  common  order  was 
reversed ;  faith  first  received  the  higher  blessing — 
"  Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee ;" 
and  thereafter  it  got  the  lower,  "  Take  up  thy  bed 
and  walk."  It  is  plain  enough  that  there  were  cases 
in  which  men  had  the  lower  but  not  the  higher 
receptive  faculty.  Of  the  ten  lepers  who  on  one 
occasion  were  healed  together,  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  the  nine  who  did  not  come  to  give 
thanks  cared  for  anything  more  than  the  bodily 
cure.  The  one  who  returned  to  give  glory  to  God 
seems  to  have  had  another  spirit.  In  the  case  of 
the  blind  man  we  have  seen  that  the  lower  faith 
became  a  stepping-stone  to  the  higher.  The  exer- 
cise of  a  receptive  faith  on  a  lower  level  seemed  to 


286  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

prepare  the  way  for  its  exercise  on  a  higher:  in 
accordance  with  our  Lord's  saying,  "To  him  that 
hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  abundantly." 
Eeceptivity,  therefore, — a  readiness  to  receive 
from  Christ,  was  the  attribute  of  that  faith  that, 
when  turned  toward  the  higher  blessings  of  salva- 
tion, made  one  a  member  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
But  this  receptivity  was  based  on  previous  lessons 
and  convictions  that  must  not  be  overlooked.  It 
was  not  like  the  feeling  that  impels  a  crowd,  when 
they  hear  of  some  one  flinging  about  handfuls  of 
gold  and  silver,  to  rush  for  a  share,  no  matter  from 
whom  the  dole  may  come.  It  was  not  in  this  way 
that  our  Lord  bestowed  His  gifts,  at  least  in  the 
case  of  individuals.  The  spirit  that  was  rewarded 
in  the  Gospels  was  a  faith  based  on  a  becoming, 
reverential  attitude  of  soul  toward  Jesus,  as  a  Higher 
Being :  a  certain  deferential  feeling,  a  lowly  sense 
of  their  need,  in  presence  of  the  august  heavenly 
Power  that  was  to  confer  the  blessing  they  desired. 
It  was  the  feeling  appropriate  in  persons  on  whose 
behalf  the  great  storehouse  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
was  about  to  be  thrown  open.  It  was  something  like 
the  feeling  with  which  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness 
would  gather  the  manna  at  first,  or  drink  of  the  water 
from  the  rock,  before  the  wonder  became  too  common 
to  excite  their  awe.  Thus,  before  the  resurrection 
of  Lazarus,  our  Lord  offered  the  prayer,  "  Father,  I 
thank  thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me :  and  I  knew 
that  thou  hearest  me  always ;  but  because  of  the 
people  which  stand  by  I  said  it,  that  they  may 
believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me."  Our  Lord  in  His 
miracles  had  a  purpose  of  edification.     On  occasion 


THOSE  ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  THE  KINGDOM.       287 

of  the  raising  of  Lazarus  He  desired  most  earnestly 
that  this  purpose  might  be  fulfilled.  By  offering 
prayer  He  sought  to  produce  a  solemn  sense 
of  direct  communication  with  the  Father :  to  excite 
tlie  feeling  that  the  blessing  was  to  come  through 
Him  straight  from  the  One  Fountain  of  all  life  and 
blessing — that  it  was  a  special  gift  from  the  God  of 
heaven.  There  were  some  of  His  miracles  that 
conveyed  the  sense  of  fellowship  between  Jesus  and 
the  Father  with  overpowering  strength.  At  the 
miraculous  draught  of  fishes  Peter  was  seized  with 
a  strange  emotion  of  awe :  "  Depart  from  me,  for  I 
am  a  sinful  man,  0  Lord !"  The  glory  of  the  Holy 
One  shone  so  powerfully  through  the  miracle,  the 
sense  of  the  Divine  Presence  was  so  bright,  that  that 
feeling  of  unworthiness  and  dread  of  destruction 
seemed  to  fall  on  Peter  which  sinful  mortals  have 
when  they  seem  to  see  God — that  God,  who,  as  to 
sin,  is  a  consuming  fire. 

So  also  in  conferring  the  higher  or  spiritual  bless- 
ings our  Lord  always  desired  to  excite  the  feeling 
that  a  glorious  communication  was  about  to  be 
made  from  the  great  Divine  Fountain  of  grace 
and  blessing.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  Nicodemus,  our 
Lord's  conversation  was  designed  to  make  him  look 
up,  high  up,  as  it  were,  to  the  very  heavens, — to 
look  up  as  a  needy  and  empty  sinner,  that  in  this 
way  all  the  wants  of  his  soul  might  be  abundantly 
supplied.  He  sought  first  to  empty  him — to  make 
him  feel  that  he  had  wants  which  earth  could  never 
supply,  and  to  give  him  such  a  large  conception  of, 
the  grace  of  God  that  he  might  look  up  to  Him 
through  Christ  in  the  full  belief  that  all  that  he 


288  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

required  would  be  freely  bestowed.  There  was  in 
Nicodemus  a  sense  of  need,  and  a  measure  of  recep- 
tivity, but  far  too  small.  Our  Lord's  dealings  were 
designed  in  the  first  instance  to  increase  both.  It 
was  not  a  few  touches  of  improvement  Nicodemus 
needed — he  needed  a  new  birth.  You  must  be  born 
avcoOev,  from  above.  You  must  be  made  a  partaker 
of  the  Divine  nature,  having  escaped  the  corruption 
that  is  in  the  world  through  lust.  Nor  need  Mco- 
demus  be  thrown  into  despair  by  the  impossibility 
of  his  reaching  to  such  blessings:  it  is  to  bestow 
them  that  Christ  has  come.  "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  who- 
soever believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
should  have  everlasting  life."  And  He  whom  God 
has  sent  for  this  purpose  is  not  merely  a  teacher 
sent  from  God  :  for  "  no  man  hath  ascended  up  to 
heaven,  but  he  that  came  down  from  heaven,  even 
the  Son  of  man  which  is  in  heaven."  It  seems 
likely  that  Nicodemus  learned  the  lesson,  and  left 
Christ's  chamber  with  a  profounder  sense  of 
his  own  need  on  the  one  hand,  but  a  sublimer  faith 
on  the  other  of  the  glory  of  Christ,  as  the  ladder 
between  earth  and  heaven  by  whom  all  blessings 
came. 

The  faith  then  that  Christ  rewarded  was  the  faith 
that  looked  up  to  Him  as  the  great  channel  of 
blessing,  temporal  and  spiritual,  for  the  needy  chil- 
dren of  men.  It  had  in  it  a  wistful,  respectful, 
expecting  element.  It  was  trust  in  a  person  as 
well  as  belief  in  a  doctrine.  It  was  an  attitude  of 
the  soul  as  well  as  an  exercise  of  the  intellect.  It 
looked  up  to  Christ  as  a  Being  exalted  above  the 


THOSE  ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  THE  KINGDOM.   289 

children  of  men,  the  messenger  of  God,  the  medium 
of  His  power,  and  the  channel  of  His  grace. 

With  this  view  of  the  faith  that  Jesus  recognised 
and  rewarded  agree  many  expressions  bearing  on 
the  reception  of  the  blessings  of  the  kingdom. 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit:  for  tlieirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  "  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness :  for  they  shall  be 
filled."  "Except  ye  be  converted,  and  become  as 
little  children,  ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  To  become  as  little  children 
is  to  feel  our  emptiness  and  dependence.  Not  to 
feel  emptiness  and  dependence  is  to  be  in  a  spiritual 
condition  that  excludes  us  from  the  blessiuGjs  of  the 
kingdom.  Our  Lord  thanked  the  father  on  one 
occasion  because  He  had  hid  the  things  of  salvation 
from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed  them  unto 
babes.  In  other  words,  because  the  law  of  the 
kingdom  was  such  that  the  hungry  were  filled  with 
good  things,  while  the  -rich  were  sent  empty  away. 
It  is  a  wholesome  law,  tending  to  good  on  both 
sides,  and  for  that  Jesus  was  thankful. 

It  is  impossible  to  calculate  the  amount  of  blessed 
effect  which  has  come  out  of  this  method  of  dealing 
with  persons  at  the  gate  of  the  kingdom — out  of  the 
direction  thus  given  to  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of 
those  who  more  or  less  consciously  seek  blessing  at 
His  hands.  "  Believest  thou  that  I  am  able  to  do 
this  ?" — is  the  question  still  to  be  dealt  with  by  all 
who  come  seeking  pardon  and  life  from  Christ. 
The  sense  of  personal  emptiness,  and  an  upwards 
honouring  look  directed  to  Christ,  as  Him  in  whom 
"  it  hath  pleased  the  Father  that  all  fulness  should 

T 


290  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

dwell,"  are  still  essential  elements  of  that  faith 
which  receives  the  blessings  of  salvation.  It  is  a 
faith  that  make  us  partners  with  Christ,  and  that 
procures  for  us  all  needed  grace  : — not  because  it  is 
itself  a  meritorious  virtue,  but  simply  because  it  is 
the  link  of  connection  with  our  Lord,  the  means  of 
making  us  one  with  Him  "  in  whom  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily." 

Would  we  in  this  matter  follow  in  the  footsteps 
of  Christ?  We  must  endeavour  to  foster  among 
our  people  a  sense  of  emptiness,  and  the  spirit  that 
looks  up  with  wonder  and  homage  to  Christ  as  God's 
gift,  laden  with  all  the  blessings  of  heaven,  to  sinful 
men.  We  must  encourage  the  quality  of  recepti- 
vity. The  most  receptive  of  all  things  is  a  vacuum. 
Thoroughly  expel  the  air  from  a  retort  whose  mouth 
is  placed  in  a  jar  of  water,  and  the  water  will  im- 
mediately rush  in,  but  no  water  will  enter  till 
the  vacuum  is  complete.  We  must  try  to  make  a 
vacuum  in  the  hearts  of  our  people.  We  must 
teach  them  to  look  above,  far  above  themselves,  for 
righteousness  and  salvation.  "  I  will  lift  up  mine 
eyes  unto  the  hills,  whence  cometh  my  help."  The 
successful  preacher  is  careful  to  lay  the  moral 
foundation  for  faith  as  well  as  the  intellectual. 
He  will  stimulate  feeling  as  well  as  thought.  He 
will  seek  to  subdue  men  into  faith  as  well  as  to 
reason  them  into  it.  You  may  expound  justifica- 
tion by  faith  very  clearly,  and  defend  the  doctrine 
triumphantly,  yet  not  bring  your  hearers  any  nearer 
to  Christ.  For  mere  reasoning  goes  but  a  little  way 
in  producing  the  vacuum.  It  is  seldom  by  mere 
-reasoning  that  you  bring  sinners  to  their  knees. 


THOSE  ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  THE  KINGDOM.        291 

We  may  see,  too,  how  much  a  right  tone  in  prayer 
may  contribute  to  the  gendering  of  faith.  When 
our  confessions  of  emptiness  and  helplessness  before 
God,  our  wrestlings  with  the  Angel  of  the  covenant, 
and  our  appeals  to  Him  who  alone  can  save  us.  are 
marked  by  the  true  tone  of  contrition  and  pathetic 
earnestness,  they  both  help  to  bring  our  people  into 
the  best  frame,  and  they  prevail  with  God  to  give 
the  desired  blessing.  The  very  songs  one  gives  out, 
and  one's  tone  in  reading  them,  will  help  the  impres- 
sion. What  must  be  the  effect  of  words  like  these 
said  or  sung  with  all  the  pathos  of  intense  personal 
longing  ? — 

"  ^ly  hands  to  thee  I  stretch  ;  my  soul 

Thirsts,  as  dry  land,  for  thee. 
Haste,  Lord,  to  hear,  my  spirit  fails  : 

Hide  not  thy  face  from  me  ; 
Lest  like  to  them  I  do  become 

That  go  down  to  the  dust. 
At  mom  let  me  Thy  kindness  hear ; 

For  in  Thee  do  I  trust." 

It  may  be  observed  that  the  psalms  and  hymns 
and  spiritual  songs  that  touch  our  hearts  most,  and 
come  nearest  home  to  our  feelings,  are  those  which 
start  with  the  expression  of  want  and  dependence, 
but  rise  to  a  triumphant  key  as  the  grace  and  love 
of  Christ  are  unfolded  and  realised. 

*•  Nothing  in  my  hand  I  bring, 
Simply  to  Thy  cross  I  cling  ; 
Naked,  come  to  Thee  for  dress, 
Helpless,  look  to  Thee  for  grace  ; 
Foul,  I  to  the  fountain  fly. 
Wash  me,  Saviour,  or  I  die  !" 

lu  such  ways  is  fulfilled  that  first  recorded  predic- 


292  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

tion  of  Jesus — "  Hereafter  ye  shall  see  heaven  open, 
and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descend- 
ing on  the  Son  of  man."  In  getting  salvation  you 
look  up  to  heaven  as  the  source  of  the  blessing,  and 
receive  it  as  the  gift  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Faith  is  no  mercantile  transaction  between  debtor 
and  creditor  performed  coldly  under  the  conditions 
of  an  earthly  contract.  The  soul  of  the  recipient 
gets  a  heavenward  attitude,  and  this  attitude  is  main- 
tained during  the  rest  of  his  life.  In  nothing  is  the 
quiet  but  mighty  influence  of  Jesus  more  apparent 
than  in  giving  this  upward  direction  to  the  soul. 
Henceforth  it  has  real  communion  with  the  upper 
world.  He  who  holds  himself  to  be  a  believer, 
and  whose  soul  is  yet  bent  on  the  earth,  must  be 
self  deceived.  Those  who  have  received  Christ 
have  their  treasure  in  heaven,  their  conversation  in 
heaven,  their  home  in  heaven.  And  no  exhortation 
is  felt  to  be  more  appropriate  than  this — "If  ye 
then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which 
are  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of 
God." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT   CLASSES, 
in. — THOSE   INSIDE  THE   KINGDOM. 

1.  In  our  Lord's  dealings  with  those  who  had  become 
deliberately  and  decidedly  members  of  His  kingdom, 
the  first  thing  that  arrests  our  attention  is  His  great 
concern  for  the  stability  and  increase  of  their  faith. 

Faith,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  vital  test  of  dis- 
cipleship ;  faith  in  Him  as  the  Christ,  the  Divine 
channel  of  all  saving  blessings  to  man;  and  through 
Him,  faith  or  trust  in  God  as  a  Father,  disposed  to 
deal  kindly  with  His  children,  and  concerned  for 
their  every  want.  But  faith  was  not  a  stationary, 
but  a  growing  quality;  it  was  subject  to  decay 
through  neglect,  and  to  increase  through  cultiva- 
tion ;  and  what  our  Lord  was  constantly  aiming  at 
was  its  growth  and  increase, — He  longed  to  see  it 
like  a  flower  covered  with  blossoms,  like  a  tree  bend- 
ing under  its  load  of  fruit. 

A  man  with  faith  is  a  man  who  acts  on  his 
spiritual  convictions ;  who  feels  that,  resting  alone 
on  the  Word  of  God,  he  has  solid  ground  under  his 
feet ;  who  is  not  easily  shaken  by  outward  forces,  as 
lonf^  as  he  can  cling  to  his  God  and  Saviour ;  and 


294  DEALINGS  WITH  DirFEKEXT  CLASSES. 

who  can  be  stimulated  to  great  undertakings  and 
enabled  to  bear  great  sufferings,  because  God  is  at 
his  right  hand,  and  he  shall  not  be  moved. 

It  was  one  of  our  Lord's  chief  delights  to  witness 
commanding  manifestations  of  such  faith.  His  de- 
light could  not  be  restrained  when  these  came  from 
unexpected  quarters.  "  I  have  not  seen  so  great 
faith,  no,  not  in  Israel,"  was  His  exclamation  when 
the  centurion  asked  Him  to  speak  the  word  that  his 
servant  mio^ht  be  healed.  The  faith  of  those  who  let 
down  the  paralytic  through  the  roof  was  especially 
welcome  to  Him.  His  intuitive  perception  of  deep 
faith  in  the  Syrophenician  mother  was  what  led 
Him  to  delay  the  blessing  she  craved,  for  He  saw 
that  her  faith  was  vigoi'ous  enough  to  remove  moun- 
tains, and  would  but  show  itself  in  greater  strength 
the  more  it  was  tried.  The  faith  of  the  woman  who 
poured  on  Him  her  box  of  very  precious  ointment 
was  too  beautiful  in  His  eyes  to  allow  her  act  to  be 
exposed  to  carping  criticism.  The  kst  act  of  mercy 
He  performed  was  an  acknowledgment  of  a  very 
striking  act  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  thief :  only  a 
commanding  exercise  of  faith  could  have  drawn  the 
promise,  "Verily,  I  say  unto  thee.  To-day  shalt 
thou  be  with  me  in  paradise." 

If  our  Lord  was  thus  delighted  with  strong  faith, 
so  He  was  distressed  for  little  faith,  and  especially 
when  it  sunk  so  low  as  to  be  a  case  of  doubt.  Doubt 
was  something  which  He  could  not  away  with.  His 
treatment  of  it  is  one  of  the  most  marked  features 
of  His  pastoral  method.  It  will  be  worth  our  while 
to  make  this  the  subject  of  a  careful  examination. 

Four  cases  present  themselves  of  our  Lord's  deal- 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  295 

ings  with  doubt.  (1.)  The  messoge  from  Jolm  the 
Baptist.  (2.)  The  incident  of  Peter's  coming  to 
Him  on  the  waters,  and  beginning  to  sink.  (3.)  The 
case  of  the  disciples  after  the  resurrection  supposing 
they  had  seen  a  spirit,  doubting  wdiether  the  resur- 
rection was  real.  (4.)  The  case  of  Thomas — although 
this  was  a  case  in  which  doubt  had  all  but  passed 
into  disbelief — refusing  to  believe  in  the  identity  of 
the  risen  Jesus,  unless  he  should  handle  His  hands 
and  His  side. 

In  reviewing  our  Lord's  treatment  of  these  cases, 
we  may  remark  these  three  things : — 1.  His  patience 
toward  the  persons  doubting ;  2.  His  dislike  of  the 
thing  itself;  and  3.  His  way  of  removing  it,  viz.,  by 
presenting  in  the  strongest  manner  the  evidence 
that  justified  and  even  demanded  faith. 

1.  As  to  our  Lord's  patience  towards  doubters. 
First,  in  the  case  of  John  the  Baptist,  no  feeling  of 
irritation  is  expressed  at  the  strange  break-down  on 
the  part  of  one  whose  faith  had  once  been  so  strong, 
and  who,  in  his  new  attitude  of  doubt,  was  doing  no 
small  disservice  to  Christ.  A  gentle  reproof  is  con- 
tained in  the  closing  warning :  "  Blessed  is  he  who- 
soever shall  not  be  offended  in  me ; "  but  the  reproof 
is  not  the  fruit  of  impatience,  it  is  the  least  that 
could  serve  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  needed,  to 
warn  others  aiijainst  the  unfortunate  attitude  of 
Jolm. 

The  words  to  Peter,  after  he  had  begun  to  sink, 
are  perhaps  in  appearance  the  sharpest:  "  0  thou  of 
little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  ?  "  Yet,  in 
view  of  the  intimate  relations  of  Jesus  and  Peter, 
the  words  are  consistent  with  tlie  greatest  kindli- 


296  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

iiess ;  and,  in  view  of  the  forwardness  that  had  been 
shown  by  Peter,  they  are  not  a  whit  sharper  than 
the  occasion  required.  To  the  disciples  who  doubted 
whether  they  really  saw  the  risen  Saviour  nothing 
could  have  been  milder  than  His  remonstrance : 
"  Why  are  ye  troubled,  and  why  do  thoughts  arise 
in  your  hearts  ? "  unless,  indeed,  it  were  His  in- 
finitely condescending  words  to  Thomas :  "  Eeach 
hither  thy  finger,  and  behold  my  hands ;  and  reach 
hitlier  thy  hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my  side ;  and 
be  not  faithless,  but  believing." 

2.  But,  amid  all  this  gentleness  of  manner,  it  was 
made  apparent  what  a  serious  evil  He  regarded 
doubt.  Let  us  observe  that  what  our  Lord  had 
such  dislike  for  was,  dovM  in  the  presence  of  strong 
evidence  calling  for  faith.  The  only  excuse  that 
could  be  made  for  such  doubt  was,  that  the  mind 
was  slow  of  apprehending  the  evidence  and  giving 
to  it  its  due  force.  Faith  being  opposed  to  sight, 
sight  is  bound  to  give  way  the  moment  the  claims 
of  faith  are  established;  but  the  mind  is  often 
sluggish,  the  senses  are  obstinate,  and  they  linger 
about  the  scene  like  an  obstinate  child  when  ordered 
to  leave  the  room,  trying  to  keep  .their  ground  as 
long  as  possible.  But  our  Lord  would  not  have 
allowed  more  than  this  to  be  said  for  doubt  in  the 
face  of  evidence.  Doubt,  as  a  permanent  state  of 
mind,  is  not  allowable ;  Doubting  Castle  is  not  the 
home  of  a  friend,  but  the  prison  of  a  foe.  There 
never  was  a  more  unreasonable  or  a  more  insolent 
question  than  that  put  to  Christ  by  the  Jews  :  "  How 
long  dost  thou  make  us  to  doubt  ? "  It  certainly 
was  not  Jesus  that  made  any  to  doubt.     On  the 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  297 

great  questions  of  the  faith  He  held  that  there  was 
light  sufficient  for  all  honest  souls.  "  I  am  the  light 
of  the  world  ;  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in 
darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life." 

3.  But  even  where  there  was  little  or  no  excuse 
for  doubt,  our  Lord  showed  His  gentle  patience  with 
doubters  by  bringing  a  new  stream  of  light  to  bear 
on  the  object,  in  order  that,  before  such  overwhelm- 
ing evidence,  doubt  might  be  scattered  for  ever.  "Go, 
tell  John  the  things  which  ye  do  see  and  hear" — 
bring  new  light  to  bear  on  the  question — light  that 
cannot  be  resisted.  "  Behold  my  hands  and  my 
feet,"  He  said  to  the  doubting  disciples,  "  that  it  is 
'I  myself;  handle  me  and  see,  for  a  spirit  hath  not 
flesh  and  bones  as  ye  see  me  have."  We  have 
already  referred  to  His  way  of  removing  the  doubts 
of  Thomas.  His  method,  as  we  thus  see,  was  to 
meet  the  doubters  on  their  own  ground,  and  conquer 
them  by  their  own  weapons.  He  had  patience  for 
all  their  unreasonableness,  and  He  provided  light  for 
all  their  darkness.  There  need  be  no  want  of  light 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  If  men  were  not  satis- 
fied with  the  good  working  light  that  was  provided 
for  them,  it  w^as  easy  to  take  a  lens  and  concentrate 
it,  so  that  all  excuse  of  inability  to  see  should  be 
utterly  removed.  And  being  in  earnest,  and  desirous 
above  all  things  that  faith  should  flourish,  our  Lord 
preferred  to  intensify  the  light  that  the  blindest  eye 
might  see,  and  all  shadow  of  excuse  for  doubt  might 
vanish. 

The  treatment  of  doubt  is  no  easy  matter  at  the 
present  day.  Undoubtedly,  if  we  would  treat  it 
successfully,  it  must  be  on  the  lines  laid  by  our 


298  DEALINGS  WITH  DTFFEKENT  CLASSES. 

Lord.  But  we  must  observe,  in  this  connection, 
that  what  is  commonly  called  doubt  at  the  present 
time  is  not  all  of  one  quality.  Some  writers,  instead 
of  reproving  doubt,  praise  it  warmly  as  a  philoso- 
phical virtue  of  the  highest  order,  indicating  a  mind 
of  honest  and  independent  calibre.  "Preliminary 
doubt,"  says  Sir  William  Hamilton,^  "  is  the  funda- 
mental condition  of  philosophy ;  and  the  necessity 
of  such  a  doubt  is  no  less  apparent  than  its  diffi- 
culty. We  do  not  approach  the  study  of  philosophy 
ignorant  but  perverted.  There  is  no  one  who  has 
not  grown  up  under  a  load  of  beliefs  .  .  .  which 
may  or  may  not  be  false,  but  which  it  is  more  pro- 
bable may  be  a  medley  of  truths  and  errors."  Hence, 
he  says,  "  philosophy  requires  a  renunciation  of  pre- 
judices— prcejiidicata — conclusions  formed  without 
a  previous  examination  of  the  grounds."  In  this 
he  maintains  that  philosophy  and  Christianity  coin- 
cide. "  What,"  he  asks,  "  is  the  primary  condition 
which  our  Saviour  requires  of  His  disciples  ?  That 
they  throw  off  their  old  prejudices,  and  come  with 
hearts  willing  to  receive  knowledge,  and  understand- 
ings open  to  conviction :  '  Unless  ye  become  as  little 
children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.'"  He  refers  to  a  chapter  in  Aristotle  on 
the  utility  of  doubt,  and  he  maintains  that  the 
apostle  was  of  the  same  mind.  Did  he  not  tell  us 
to  prove  or  test  all  things  ?  And  is  not  this  just 
bidding  us  doubt  all  things  ? 

It  is  obvious  that  much  confusion  is  introduced 
here  by  the  use  of  the  term  "  doubt "  in  different 
senses,  or,  at  least,  in  reference  to  different  stages 

^  Lectures  on  Metapliysics. 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KIXGDOM.  299 

of  a  process.  While  the  philosopher  commends 
doubt,  the  Saviour  condemns  it.  But  there  is  no 
real  contradiction.  What  the  philosopher  commends 
is  preliminary  doubt ;  what  the  Saviour  condemns 
is  permanent  doubt.  The  philosopher  would  have 
you  doubt  at  the  beginning,  but  this  he  would 
encourage  in  order  that  you  may  obtain  reasonable 
certainty  at  the  end.  The  philosopher  commends 
doubt  with  reference  to  opinions  that  have  been 
formed  ^vithout  regard  to  the  grounds  on  which  they 
rest.  In  the  same  sense  our  Lord  w^ould  have  had 
His  disciples  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  the  Korban, 
to  doubt  the  propriety  of  swearing  by  the  gold  of 
the  temple,  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  long  rejjeti- 
tions  in  prayer,  to  doubt  the  whole  body  of  tradition 
sought  to  be  imposed  upon  them.  To  doubt  in  this 
sense  is  just  to  decline  forming  opinions  until  you 
see  that  the  grounds  for  them  are  valid.  It  is 
unfortunate,  however,  that  the  term  doubt  should 
be  applied  to  this  process.  To  prove  or  test  is  a 
much  more  suitable  word.  A  mule  on  the  side  of  a 
Swiss  mountain  will  not  rest  its  weight  on  a  project- 
ing stone  until  it  has  first  felt  with  its  hoof  whether 
it  is  firm  enough  to  bear  it.  Here  instinct  is  an 
example  to  intellect.  And  this  process  is  just  equi- 
valent to  the  apostolic  one — "  Prove  all  things : 
hold  fast  that  which  is  good."  But  this  is  very 
different  from  a  permanent  condition  of  doubt. 
Doubting,  as  a  permanent  condition  of  the  mind,  in 
presence  of  sufficient  evidence,  is  alike  contrary  to 
the  principles  of  philosophy  and  the  claims  of  re- 
ligion. 

In  the  ordinary  work  of  the  Christian  ministry 


300  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

two  kinds  of  doubt  are  to  be  met  with,  both  calling 
for  our  best  efforts  to  remove  them.  First,  doubt 
as  to  whether  the  grounds  for  Christian  faith  are 
sufficient;  whether  it  is  one's  duty  to  accept  the 
Bible  without  hesitation  as  the  inspired  Word  of 
God.  In  reference  to  this  state,  there  are  some 
religious  guides  who  utter  very  strong  warnings; 
who  tell  a  young  man  that  the  moment  he  begins 
to  doubt  he  is  lost ;  that  he  never  ought  to  suffer  a 
doubt  to  enter  his  mind ;  that  every  doubt  on  such 
a  subject  is  the  vile  suggestion  of  the  devil. 

But  however  well  meant,  this  is  foolish  talk.  Men 
ought  to  see  that  there  are  sufficient  grounds  for 
whatever  they  profess  to  believe,  and  if  one  has 
not  from  the  beginning  a  convincing  intuitive  belief 
in  the  Bible  as  God's  Word,  it  is  right  that  he  should 
carefully  examine  its  credentials.  The  danger  of 
doubt  lies  in  beginning  to  doubt  against  your  oivn 
intuitive  belief;  also,  in  remaining  in  a  state  of 
doubt  as  a  permanent  position ;  and,  further,  in 
demanding  evidence  for  religious  faith  of  a  nature 
which  the  case  does  not  admit  of.  What  is  de- 
manded of  the  Christian  minister  in  dealing  with 
this  is  to  follow  his  Master  in  being  very  patient, 
and  in  trying  to  increase  the  light  and  force  of 
evidence,  until  it  becomes  overwhelming.  But  we 
must  remember  that  the  evidence  sought  is  not 
always  the  evidence  of  logic.  It  is  sometimes  moral 
evidence, — the  evidence  of  adaptation  between  the 
Bible  and  the  needs  of  the  soul, — the  evidence  of 
heavenliness,  and  love,  and  purity  in  the  actual 
products  of  the  Bible.  And  if  in  their  own  spirit 
and  temper  Christ's  servants  give  ample  proof  of 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  301 

this,  they  will  not  be  long  of  scattering  doubt.  It 
was  the  overpowering  force  of  humble,  gentle,  con- 
descending love  on  the  part  of  Jesus  that  scattered 
the  doubts  of  Thomas,  and  brought  him  to  the  feet 
of  his  Master,  as  trustful  and  guileless  as  a  little 
child.  The  doubter  has  been  known  to  say,  I  don't 
care  for  what  you  say ;  but  I  do  mind  what  you  are 
and  what  you  do. 

The  other  kind  of  doubt  often  met  with  by  the 
Christian  minister  is  that  of  those  who  have  no 
speculative  difficulties,  but  who  oscillate  between 
the  impressions  of  sense  and  the  claims  of  faith, 
and  are  thus,  in  the  language  of  popular  theology, 
troubled  with  "  doubts  and  fears."  The  trouble  is 
not  in  the  head  but  in  the  heart.  The  difficulty  is 
to  bring  their  whole  nature  into  harmony  in  the 
acknowledgment  of  truth.  There  are  various  phases 
of  this  state  of  mind  demanding  discriminating 
study  on  the  part  of  the  Christian  pastor.  A  know- 
ledge of  the  cause  will  usually  be  the  best  guide  to 
the  remedy.  Sometimes  it  is  the  fruit  of  a  morbid 
humility — a  sense  of  unworthiness  which  thinks  it 
would  be  presumption  to  appropriate  to  itself  the 
tidings  of  the  Gospel  in  all  their  glorious  freeness. 
Sometimes  it  arises  from  contracted  views  of  God, 
from  measuring  the  Divine  generosity  by  a  human 
standard,  limiting  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  Often 
it  arises  from  sluggishness  of  mind  where  there 
ought  to  be  activity — from  backwardness  in  acknow- 
ledging the  sovereign  claims  of  truth,  or  from  spiritual 
dulness,  cowardice,  and  timidity.  In  other  cases,  it 
is  the  result  of  moral  laxity,  of  a  habit  of  tampering 
with  conscience,  the  eye  ceasing  to  be  single,  and 


302  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFEEENT  CLASSES. 

being  unable  to  apprehend  the  simplicity  of  truth. 
The  faithful  pastor  must  do  his  best  to  understand 
the  feeling,  and  the  source  from  which  it  springs. 
But  in  this  process  of  spiritual  diagnosis  and  cure 
he  will  often  find,  as  physicians  find,  that  local 
ailments  are  healed  best  by  quickening  and  strength- 
ening the  system  generally.  Looking  away  from 
self,  having  regard  to  the  objective  declarations  of 
God,  trembling  at  His  word,  be  it  promise  or 
threatening,  are  the  characteristics  of  a  healthy 
spiritual  condition  ;  and  wdiere  this  wholesome  state 
of  mind  is  cultivated  doubts  and  fears  will  retire, 
as  owls  and  other  creatures  of  the  night  hide  them- 
selves before  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun. 

2.  Another  very  characteristic  trait  of  our  Lord's 
treatment  of  those  inside  the  kingdom  was  His 
encouraging  among  them  a  warm,  simple,  family 
feeling :  encouraging  them  to  think  of  God  as  their 
Father,  of  Jesus  Himself  as  their  friend  and  elder 
brother,  and  of  the  whole  Church  as  a  community 
of  brethren.  To  soften  the  hard  relations  of  the 
w^orld,  to  sweeten  all  intercourse  by  love  and  con- 
fidence, to  neutralise  as  it  were  the  acids  of  sin  and 
selfishness  by  the  alkalis  of  forbearing  aud  forgiving 
kindness,  was  one  of  the  chief  aims  of  His  pastoral 
labours.  The  predominating  thought  in  this  course 
of  influence  was  the  fatherhood  of  God.  "Our 
Father,  which  art  in  heaven."  A  serene  trust  in  God 
as  the  Father,  interested  in  all  that  concerns  us; 
most  certain  not  to  think  of  us  less  than  He  thinks 
of  the  ravens  and  the  lilies  ;  most  certain  not  to  be 
behind  earthly  fathers  in  giving  good  things  to  them 
that  ask  Him:   numbering  the  very  hairs   of  our 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  303 

heads ;  able  to  deliver  us  from  them  that  kill  the 
body ;  knowing  what  things  we  have  need  of  before 
we  ask  Him  : — this  is  the  spirit  He  ever  sought  -to 
foster.  And  a  fruit  of  this  spirit  is  calmness  of 
mind,  serenity  of  temper,  freedom  from  fluster  and 
excitement,  like  the  tone  of  the  little  child  in  the 
storm  at  sea  who  felt  so  untroubled  because  her 
father  was  at  the  helm.  This  saintliness  and  serenity 
of  soul  is  a  high  element  in  the  religion  of  Christ. 
"  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  ye  believe  in  God, 
believe  also  in  me."  If  the  spirit  of  serenity  achieves 
its  greatest  visible  triumphs  in  times  of  great  excite- 
ment, it  triumphs  none  the  less  in  ordinary  times, 
when  in  calm,  untroubled  trustfulness  it  bears  the 
burdens  and  endures  the  worries  by  which  others 
are  overborne.  Our  Lord's  calls  to  prayer  connect 
themselves  with  the  maintenance  of  this  spirit. 
Prayer,  besides  its  direct  influence,  recalls  the  thought 
of  the  Father,  and  to  the  trustful  spirit  the  thought 
of  the  Father  is  the  thought  of  one  who  will  with- 
hold no  good  thing  from  them  that  walk  uprightly. 
In  the  same  s^Dirit  in  which  they  were  called  to 
trust  the  Father,  Jesus  called  on  His  people  to  trust 
in  Him.  While  among  them  He  had  given  all 
encouragement  to  this  spirit.  "  Henceforth  I  call 
you  not  servants,  for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what 
his  lord  doeth ;  but  I  have  called  you  friends :  for 
all  things  whatsoever  I  have  heard  of  the  Father  I 
have  made  known  unto  you."  The  call  for  trust  in 
Jesus  was  more  immediately  connected  with  the 
administration  of  the  kingdom.  While  among  them, 
He  had  treated  them  in  a  friendly,  brotherly  way : 
encouraging  familiarity,  encouraging  frank  and  easy 


304     DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

intercourse ;  not  holding  them  at  a  distance  from 
Him,  but  allowing  them  to  come  very  near  to  Him, 
and  in  this  way  inspiring  them  with  confidence  in 
His  absolute  friendliness,  and  encouraging  the  most 
thorough  reliance  on  His  sympathy  and  interest. 
It  is  in  this  way  that  Jesus  would  have  His  followers 
regard  Him.  He  is  not  an  high  priest  that  cannot 
be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  their  infirmities,  but 
the  real  brother  of  His  Church.  Whether  the  matter 
in  concern  be  their  personal  spiritual  wellbeing,  or  the 
wellbeing  of  the  Church  of  which  some  of  them  are 
the  earthly  guardians  and  guides,  it  is  in  this  spirit 
of  brotherly  trust  they  are  invited  and  expected  to 
deal  with  Him.  The  two  things  react  on  each  other ; 
the  sense  of  Christ's  brotherhood  inspires  a  happy, 
trustful  feeling  amid  all  Christian  duty  and  service, 
and  the  exercise  of  this  feeling  deepens  the  sense  of 
His  brotherhood.  And  in  the  play  of  these  feelings 
there  is  gendered  a  serene  happy  spirit,  peculiar  to 
the  Christian  life,  making  burdens  light  and  trials 
easy,  and  ever  kindling  the  hope  and  expectation  of 
that  nearer  fellowship,  when  the  Lamb  in  the  midst 
of  the  throne  shall  feed  them,  and  lead  them  to 
living  fountains  of  water,  and  God  shall  wipe  away 
all  tears  from  their  eyes. 

And  as  Jesus  encouraged  the  spirit  of  brotherhood 
from  His  disciples  toward  Himself,  so  He  encouraged 
it  likewise  in  their  dealings  one  toward  another. 
It  was  as  brethren  that  they  were  to  consult  and 
decide  about  the  affairs  of  His  Church.  The  wash- 
ing of  their  feet  was  a  brotherly  example — "  that  ye 
should  do  to  one  another  as  I  have  done  to  you." 
Forgiveness   towards   a   brother,   and   especially  a 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  305 

brother  in  Christ,  was  practically  to  have  no  limit. 
It  is  not  without  a  purpose  that  the  gospel  history 
informs  us  how,  even  close  on  the  crucifixion,  these 
lessons  had  made  so  little  impression  that  the 
disciples  were  contending  with  one  another  which 
of  them  should  be  greatest.  Lessons  of  this  kind 
require  the  spirit  to  be  chastened  by  sore  trial  ere 
it  receives  the  impression.  The  awful  experience 
of  the  crucifixion-tragedy,  and  the  further  mellowing 
that  took  place  when  Jesus  left  them  to  go  into 
heaven,  softened  the  soil  of  their  hearts.  And  no 
picture  of  brotherly  unity  and  loving  fellowship 
could  be  more  beautiful  than  that  presented  in  the 
first  days  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  meetiugs 
for  praise  and  prayer,  the  union  in  doctrine  and 
fellowship,  the  holy  meetings  for  breaking  of  bread, 
and  the  cheerful  contribution  of  their  goods  to  a 
common  fund  for  mutual  relief,  showed  how  pro- 
found a  hold  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  had  taken, 
and  constituted  a  spectacle  too  rare,  alas  1  in  tlie 
history  of  the  Christian  Church,  but  very  delightful 
to  the  Church  as  often  as  it  has  been  realised,  and 
very  blessed  and  impressive  in  its  influence  on  the 
world. 

3.  It  may  vary  somewhat  the  tenor  of  these  some- 
what general  statements  to  notice,  thirdly,  our  Lord's 
method  of  dealing  with  the  afflicted.  And  as  the 
case  of  Mary  and  Martha,  in  connection  with  the 
death  of  their  beloved  brother,  and  the  demolition 
of  the  structure  of  family  love  and  joy  in  whose 
shadow  they  had  lived,  is  the  most  conspicuous  and 
striking  of  this  class  of  cases,  it  may  be  well  to  con- 
fine our  attention  to  it.     Wliat  strikes  us  at  once 

u 


306  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

in  our  Lord's  procedure  on  tliis  occasion  is,  that 
He  gave  Himself  up  entirely  to  relieve  the  trouble 
that  had  settled  down  on  His  friends.  No  doubt 
there  was  at  first  an  appearance  of  indifference.  It 
is  one  of  those  cases  in  which  we  should  have  ex- 
pected Jesus  to  act  otherwise  than  He  did — in  which 
we  should  have  expected  Him  to  hurry  to  His 
friends  the  moment  He  heard  of  their  sorrow.  But 
he  that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste.  It  was  one 
of  the  proofs  of  our  Lord's  greatness  that  He  could 
hold  in  complete  command  those  strong  impulses  of 
the  heart  to  which  weak  natures  are  constrained  to 
yield,  let  the  purpose  of  them  be  what  it  may.  We 
must  bear  in  mind  the  multiplicity  and  great  im- 
portance of  our  Lord's  engagements  and  duties, 
and  the  possibility  that  in  the  place  where  He 
was,  there  was  important  work  doing,  which  could 
not  be  left  suddenly,  especially  as  the  time  of  His 
death  was  now  so  near  that  He  could  not  have 
returned  to  finish  what  He  had  begun. 

This  we  say  may  have  been;  but  undoubtedly 
our  Lord's  delay  was  caused  mainly  by  a  feeling 
similar  to  that  which  appeared  at  first  to  trifle  with 
the  Syrophenician  woman,  but  which  sprang  from  a 
conviction  of  the  profundity  of  her  faith,  and  the 
glorious  triumph  it  was  sure  to  achieve.  So  when 
our  Lord  abstained  from  going  to  Bethany  it  was 
with  a  view  to  final  results :  with  a  view  to  a  more 
profound  trial  and  reward  of  the  faith  of  the  sisters, 
and  the  performance  of  a  miracle  which,  close  on 
His  own  death,  would  yet  show  clearly  that  He  had 
the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death.  And  for  all  time  this 
great  work  was  designed  to  carry  the  lesson  that 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  307 

there  is  no  sorrow  too  profound  for  Jesus  to  heal, 
and  no  calamity  too  irremediable  for  Him  to  change 
into  a  blessing. 

It  is  very  certain  that  when  our  Lord  did  go  to 
Bethany,  He  gave  His  whole  heart.  His  undivided 
attention  and  thought  to  the  afflicted  family  there. 
He  did  not  embrace  this  with  other  objects  to  be 
attended  to ;  but  for  the  time  allowed  this  case  to 
absorb  Him  wholly.  It  has  been  remarked  by  Dean 
Vaughan  that  one  visit  of  true  sympathy  is  pastoral 
work  enough  for  one  day.  To  bring  the  heart  into 
thorough  accord  with  friends  plunged  into  the  depths 
of  grief  is  to  place  it  in  a  condition  which  unfits  it 
for  the  time  for  lighter  and  livelier  duty.  To  make 
one's-self  truly  one  with  a  profoundly  afflicted  family 
is  in  a  manner  to  share  their  grief,  and  place  one's 
self  for  the  time  wholly  out  of  tune  for  the  bustle  of 
ordinary  life.  It  is  not  very  often  that  a  bereave- 
ment happens  of  so  overwhelming  a  character  as 
that  of  Bethany,  but  with  some  such  cases  every 
minister  is  familiar.  If  other  duties  admit  of  it, 
and  the  relations  of  the  minister  to  the  family  are 
near  and  cordial,  by  all  means  let  him  act  as  Jesus 
acted,  give  himself  up  for  the  time  to  sympathy  and 
Christian  help.  This  were  to  bring,  as  it  were,  his 
alabaster  box  of  very  precious  ointment,  and  pour 
it  upon  the  wounded  heart ;  and  in  such  a  case  it 
holds  true  that,  "  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  to  the  least 
of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me."  The  tears 
of  Jesus,  as  He  sat  with  Mary,  evinced  the  depth 
and  thoroughness  of  His  sympathy.  In  the  view 
of  what  was  about  to  happen,  there  was  little  call 
for  tears;   but  Jesus  was   so  identified  with  His 


308     DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

friend  in  sympathy,  that  when  He  saw  Mary  "  weep- 
ing, and  the  Jews  also  weeping  who  came  with  her," 
and  thought  perchance  how  often  such  scenes  would 
be  renewed  in  the  earthly  history  of  His  people, — 
"  Jesus  wept." 

To  go  over  all  that  Jesus  urged  upon  those 
within  His  kingdom  would  be  to  summarise  His 
whole  teaching  on  the  Christian  life, — its  duties  and 
temptations,  its  joys  and  sorrows,  its  difficulties 
and  its  triumphs.  We  should  have  to  tarry  over 
the  Beatitudes,  ponder  each  part  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  ascertain  the  lessons  of  the  parables, 
and  weigh  each  discourse  and  each  conversation. 
Into  so  wide  a  field  the  study  of  His  pastoral  methods 
hardly  carries  us. 

4.  But  there  is  one  great  pastoral  lesson  which 
our  Lord  was  accustomed  to  urge  on  His  people 
with  special  earnestness,  and  to  the  due  considera- 
tion of  which  He  ever  attached  the  deepest  import- 
ance— namely,  the  duty  of  their  bearing  in  mind 
His  coming  back,  and  of  their  ordering  their  whole 
life  and  service  by  a  regard  to  that  event.  This 
great  lesson  is  urged  in  two  ways:  first,  on  their 
consciences,  as  a  stimulus  to  faithful,  constant, 
zealous  service;  and  secondly,  on  their  hearts,  as 
a  blessed  solace,  a  glorious  hope,  the  climax  and 
crown  of  all  spiritual  joy. 

It  is  urged  on  their  consciences.  If  the  parable 
be  that  of  the  Talents,  the  duty  of  improving  is 
urged  not  merely  by  the  general  sense  of  duty  and 
the  general  hope  of  reward,  but  very  specially  by 
the  consideration  that  the  lord  of  the  servants  is  to 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  309 

return,  that  he  will  look  carefully  into  the  matter, 
and  will  welcome  the  good  and  faithful  servant  into 
the  joy  of  his  lord.  If  it  is  the  parable  of  the  house- 
hold over  whom  the  lord  has  appointed  one  to  be 
overseer,  it  is  well  for  him  to  remember  the  tempta- 
tions in  his  lord's  absence  to  self-indulgence  and 
injustice,  and  to  think  how  these  things  will  look 
when  bis  lord  returns  and  examines  all  that  he  has 
been  about.  If  it  be  the  parable  of  the  Virgins,  the 
slumber  of  ail  the  ten  denotes  the  danger  of  neglect- 
ing to  watch,  but  the  case  of  those  who  slumbered 
while  there  was  no  oil  in  their  lamps  indicates  a 
profounder  danger,  only  to  be  averted  by  remember- 
ing that  at  some  moment  to  us  unknown  the  cry 
may  go  forth.  Behold,  the  bridegroom  cometh ! 

If  it  should  seem  to  any  that  this  method  of 
stimulating  men  to  watchfulness  is  not  the  highest 
method  :  that  if  men  were  really  conscientious,  the 
fact  that  a  thing  is  right,  is  required  of  them,  is  part 
of  their  indefeasible  duty — ought  to  be  sufficient, 
and  that  it  is  an  inferior  part  of  their  nature  that  is 
appealed  to,  when  they  are  warned  to  bew^are  of  a 
surprise,  to  take  care  lest  they  be  caught,  to  consider 
how  their  lives  must  appear  when  the  Lord  comes 
to  judge — we  reply,  that  even  granting  this  to  be 
true,  we  are  never  in  such  a  condition  of  confirmed 
goodness  as  to  be  able  to  dispense  with  the  aid  of 
even  inferior  considerations  in  favour  of  it.  In  fact, 
it  is  a  principle  in  God's  method  of  training  us,  to 
prop  us  up,  to  quicken  and  encourage  us  in  His 
service  by  many  considerations  that  would  not  be 
needed  in  a  more  perfect  state.  One  of  the  most 
important  of  these  influences  is  that  of  attachment 


310  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

to  a  person,  and  regard  for  his  opinion.  It  is  a 
great  help  in  training  a  young  person  if  among  those 
about  him  there  be  some  one  of  great  excellence  to 
whose  person  he  is  attached,  and  for  whose  opinion, 
he  has  respect.  The  silent  influence  of  that  friend, 
the  thought  that  what  one  does  will  come  under  his 
review,  will  prove  a  great  help  on  the  side  of  virtue, 
and  against  temptation.  It  is  the  same  principle, 
but  with  far  loftier  application  and  stronger  force, 
that  our  Lord  brought  to  bear  on  the  vigilance 
and  faithfulness  of  His  people,  when  He  taught 
them  to  be  constantly  looking  for  His  return,  and 
to  do  all  their  work  and  service  as  in  the  great 
Taskmaster's  eye. 

But  while  He  brought  this  truth  to  bear  on  their 
consciences  to  stimulate  fidelity  and  vigilance,  He 
brought  it  also  to  bear  on  their  hearts  as  a  source 
of  hope  and  joy  unspeakable.  In  this  connection, 
He  dwelt  chiefly  on  two  considerations.  The  first 
was,  that  the  rewards  to  be  given  for  faithful  service 
would  be  on  a  most  generous  scale.  To  forsake  the 
world  for  Christ  would  bring  manifold  more  in  this 
life,  and  in  the  world  to  come,  life  everlasting.  The 
apostles  would  sit  on  twelve  thrones,  judging  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  A  cup  of  cold  water  given 
to  a  disciple  would  in  no  wise  lose  its  reward. 
Those  who  had  been  faithful  in  a  few  things  would 
be  made  rulers  over  many  things.  Services  done  to 
His  little  ones  would  be  rewarded  as  done  to  Himself. 
The  whole  bountifulness  of  the  Divine  nature  would 
be  shown  at  Christ's  coming  in  the  recognition  of 
faithful  service.  Just  as  there  are  occasions  in  the 
history  of  rich  men, — perhaps  a  marriage  festivity. 


THOSE  INSIDE  THE  KINGDOM.  311 

or  a  royal  visit,  when  they  do  their  hospitality 
on  a  more  than  usually  lordly  scale,  finding  a 
pride  and  a  pleasure  in  princely  munificence,  so,  it 
would  seem,  the  return  of  Jesus  to  earth  is  to  be 
celebrated  by  the  manifestation  of  the  exceeding 
riches  of  His  grace,  by  gifts  of  unexampled  muni- 
ficence, by  the  lustre  of  the  distinctions  to  be  heaped 
on  the  men  whom  the  King  delighteth  to  honour. 
"  When  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then 
shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in  glory."  "  To  him 
that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  on  my 
throne,  even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am  set  down 
with  my  Father  on  his  throne." 

The  other  consideration  that  Christ  dwelt  on  to 
magnify  the  privilege  of  His  servants,  at  His  second 
coming  was,  the  closeness  of  the  relation  in  which 
they  were  to  be  toward  Him,  and  the  warmth  of  the 
complacency  of  which  they  were  to  be  the  objects. 
"  In  my  Fatlier's  house  are  many  mansions :  if  it 
were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare 
a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for 
you,  I  will  come  again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself ; 
that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  he  also."  In  these 
words  it  was  implied  both  that  their  presence  with 
Him  would  go  to  complete  His  happiness,  and  that 
His  presence  with  them  would  go  to  complete  theirs. 
It  is  not  possible  for  us  to  conceive  what  a  bright 
and  blessed  influence  Christ's  presence  had  been 
among  His  disciples  during  His  earthly  sojourn. 
Though  the  distance  every  way  between  the  fisher 
lads  and  the  Divine  Saviour  of  the  world  was  so 
vast,  yet  all  the  time  Christ  was  with  them  His 
presence  must  have  been  like  a  sunbeam,  brighten- 


312  DEALINGS  WITH  DIFFERENT  CLASSES. 

ing  and  refreshing  their  whole  life,  and  giving  them 
many  of  the  sensations  of  heaven.  What  a  privilege 
it  was  to  look  forward  to  the  same  presence  again, 
and  to  think  of  it  not  as  a  transitory  but  an  abiding 
enjoyment;  and  not  as  a  joy  for  which  they  had 
hardly  begun  to  be  fitted,  but  as  one  which  their 
transformed  natures  would  make  infinitely  deeper, 
infinitely  sweeter,  nearer  to  that  mysterious  joy 
which  the  Father  had  when  the  Son  lay  in  His 
bosom,  and  was  daily  His  delight,  rejoicing  continu- 
ally before  Him. 

The  history  of  Christ's  dealings  with  those  who 
were  inside  the  kingdom  is  just  the  history  of  the 
process  described  by  the  apostle — "  Christ  also  loved 
the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it,  that  he  might 
sanctify  it  with  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word, 
that  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a  glorious 
church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such 
thing,  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without 
blemish."  Does  it  not  greatly  elevate  the  scope  and 
objects  of  the  Christian  ministry  when  it  is  regarded 
as  the  instrument  ordained  by  Christ  to  achieve 
this  glorious  consummation  ?  Not  a  magical  or 
mechanical  apparatus  for  saving  souls;  but  an 
instrument  adapted  in  every  quality,  intellectual, 
moral,  and  spiritual,  for  spiritual  work: — the  in- 
strument by  which  the  New  Jerusalem  is  to  be 
prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband,  so 
that  seeing  the  great  transformation,  men  are  to  ask, 
**  Who  is  she  that  looketh  forth  as  the  morning,  fair 
as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as  an 
army  with  banners?'* 


CHAPTEE    XVIII. 

HIS  FAEEWELL. 

It  is  easy  to  see  from  the  tenor  of  our  Lord's  last 
discourses,  whether  in  the  synoptic  Gospels,  or  in 
St.  John,  that  His  ministry  was  drawing  to  a  close. 
To  the  multitude,  to  the  rulers,  and  to  the  twelve 
alike.  He  spoke  as  one  whose  voice  was  not  much 
longer  to  be  heard  among  them.  In  His  words  to 
all  the  three  we  mark  that  increase  of  frankness 
and  earnestness,  and  that  greater  outflow  of  affec- 
tion which  we  find  so  often  in  the  bearing  of  friends 
conscious  of  the  near  approach  of  death.  Like 
Samson  gathering  his  strength  for  a  last  effort, 
many  a  person  under  the  shadow  of  death  has 
shown  a  frankness  and  a  fervour  in  impressing  his 
views  on  his  family  and  friends,  of  which,  in  his 
more  ordinary  moods,  no  one  would  have  supposed 
him  capable.  Full  though  our  Lord's  ministry  had 
all  along  been  of  frankness  and  earnestness,  yet 
even  He  could  feel  the  quickening  influence  of  the 
valley  of  the  shadow,  and  even  His  voice  could 
gather  fresh  pathos  from  the  thought — "  Yet  a  little 
while  and  ye  shall  see  me  no  more." 

1.  In  His  addresses  to  the  multitude,  His  con- 
sciousness of  the  night   coming  is  shown  in  the 

313 


314  HIS  FAREWELL. 

special  prominence  which  He  gives  to  the  dread 
fact  of  retribution.  Nearly  all  His  parables  of  this 
period  bear  on  the  great  winding  up.  The  parable 
of  the  Wicked  Husbandmen  (Matt.  xxi.  33)  ends 
with  the  coming  of  the  householder,  miserably  to 
destroy  those  wicked  men.  The  parable  of  the 
Wedding  Garment  (Matt,  xxii.)  ends  with  the  expul- 
sion of  the  man  who  has  no  wedding  garment  into 
outer  darkness,  where  there  is  weeping  and  wailing 
and  gnashing  of  teeth.  The  discourse  over  the 
temple  from  the  Mount  of  Olives  (Matt,  xxiv.)  ends 
with  another  vision  of  judgment,  where  the  faithful 
servant  is  rewarded,  and  the  careless  consigned  to 
his  final  doom.  The  last  group  of  parables  (Matt. 
XXV.),  embracing  the  Ten  Virgins,  the  Talents,  and 
the  Sheep  and  the  Goats,  lead  up,  in  every  case,  to 
the  solemn  retribution  of  the  end.  What  more 
appropriate  truth  could  our  Lord  have  left  ringing 
in  the  ears  and  consciences  of  the  multitude?  or 
what  more  tender  appeal,  in  the  view  of  that  truth, 
could  He  have  made  tlian  in  the  tearful  lamentation 
which  He  poured  out  when  He  beheld  the  city,  or 
in  the  figure  of  the  hen  gathering  her  chickens 
under  her  wings  ?  It  was  His  knowledge  of  the 
certainty  and  terribleness  of  the  retribution  tliat 
made  His  feelings  so  earnest,  and  His  appeals  so 
tender.  Would  that  our  hearts  thrilled  more  to 
these  solemn  appeals,  where  in  form  after  form  our 
Lord  surrounds  us  with  the  dread  solemnities  of 
the  judgment,  and  the  unchangeable  retributions 
of  that  great  day  ! 

2.  Again,  in  His  dealings  with  the  rulers,  His 
consciousness  of  the  coming  end  shows  itself  in  His 


HIS  FAREWELL.  315 

frank  and  fearless  exposure  and  denunciation  of 
their  wickedness.  The  breach  between  Him  and 
them  is  now  evidently  final.  They  had  rejected 
Him  the  first  time  He  came  to  the  temple  claiming 
His  own  (John  ii.) ;  to  give  them  another  chance, 
He  cleanses  the  temple  a  second  time  (Luke  xix. 
45-48) ;  but  the  result  is  a  more  determined  and 
malignant  rejection  than  before.  In  numberless 
other  ways  they  have  shown  their  enmity.  The  day 
for  mild  remonstrance  and  gracious  invitation  is  now 
past.  They  can  no  longer  be  classed  with  those 
whom  He  may  hope  to  gain  by  the  cords  of  love ; 
they  must  be  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  nation, 
treated  as  the  incorrigible  enemies  of  God  and  man, 
and  so  arraigned  and  rebuked  that  their  influence 
with  the  people  may  be  broken,  and  their  authority 
annulled.  This  exposure  must  be  made  in  the  most 
startling  and  scathing  words  that  language  can 
supply  (Matt,  xxiii.).  It  is  only  in  this  way  that 
their  evil  influence  can  be  destroyed;  or  if  it  be 
possible  in  any  case  to  pierce  the  hardened  heart,  it 
is  these  sharp  arrows  alone  that  will  do  it.  That 
our  Lord  should  have  resorted  to  such  a  style  of 
speech  to  gratify  a  personal  feeling  is  utterly  incre- 
dible. Towards  His  bitterest  foe.  He  had  no  other 
feeling  personally  than — "  Father,  forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do." 

3.  While  the  influence  of  the  shadow  of  death  is 
thus  seen  both  in  our  Lord's  dealings  with  the  mul- 
titude and  with  the  rulers,  it  is  still  more  manifest 
in  His  farewell  words  to  the  tivelve.  Ever  since  His 
transfiguration  He  had  been  opening  up  to  them 
the  terrible  tragedy  that  was  about  to  be  enacted. 


316  ms  FAREWELL. 

His  whole  demeanour,  during  the  intervening  weeks, 
was  in  keeping  with  the  situation  thus  disclosed. 
But  in  the  closing  discourses,  and  especially  in  the 
farewell  address,  as  recorded  in  John  xiv.-xvi..  He 
throws  Himself  more  fully  into  the  situation.  We 
notice  a  special  frankness,  a  special  warmth  of  affec- 
tion, and  a  special  graciousness  of  condescension. 
Never  before  did  He  tell  them  so  plainly  of  their 
weaknesses — the  coming  treachery  of  Judas,  the 
denial  of  Peter,  the  forsaking  of  them  all.  Never 
did  He  give  them  such  tokens  of  His  love  as  in  the 
holy  supper,  followed  by  the  washing  of  their  feet. 
But  this  was  not  all.  We  mark  in  all  His  farewell 
dealings  an  earnest  desire  to  prepare  them  for  their 
new  position.  He  seeks  to  counteract  the  natural 
feeling  of  loneliness  and  helplessness  by  which  they 
were  liable  to  be  overwhelmed  when  He  should 
leave  them,  and  to  fit  them  for  the  high  duties  and 
responsibilities  under  which  they  w^re  to  come. 

More  especially,  what  our  Lord  emphatically 
sought,  was  to  keep  up  their  faith  in  Him  after  He 
should  leave  them,  so  that  He  should  he  as  much  a 
reality  to  them  as  He  had  been  before.  He  wished 
them  to  continue  to  do  His  work  just  as  if  He  were 
at  their  head  and  in  their  midst ;  to  believe  that  His 
care  over  them  was  as  real  as  when  He  arose  and 
rebuked  the  winds  and  the  waves,  and  His  help  as 
effectual  as  when  He  filled  their  net  with  the  mira- 
culous draught  of  fishes.  A  blessed  faith  this,  surely, 
not  only  for  the  twelve,  but  for  all  who  are  called 
to  do  Christ's  work  in  the  world !  What  courage 
and  power  would  it  give  every  servant  of  Christ's  in 
the  thickest  dangers  and  most  arduous  undertakings, 


HIS  FAREWELL.  317 

to  have  an  unfailing  reliance  on  the  promise,  "  Lo,  I 
am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

May  it  not  have  been  in  some  degree  with  a  view 
to  this  result  in  the  case  of  the  twelve,  that  so  many 
rare  and  remarkable  testimonies  to  Christ  were  accu- 
mulated during  the  last  few  days, — the  time  when 
He  was  passing  through  the  scenes  of  His  deepest 
humiliation  ?  Across  the  dark  background  of  man's 
ineffable  atrocity,  there  came  ever  and  anon,  flashes 
of  glory,  fitted  to  confirm  the  faith  of  every  per- 
plexed disciple,  and  give  fresh  confidence  in  the 
person  of  Him  who,  though  now  seemingly  abandoned 
to  the  enmity  of  men  and  the  rage  of  devils,  was  still 
shown  to  be  the  Son  of  God. 

(1.)  Thus,  first,  there  was  the  testimony  of  the 
woman  who  brought  her  costly  box  of  ointment  to 
anoint  Him.  Even  yet  we  may  be  disposed  to  ask, 
To  what  purpose  was  this  waste  ?  But  the  whole 
circumstances  of  the  case,  as  well  as  our  Lord's  vin- 
dication of  the  woman,  show  how  fitting  a  testimony 
it  was  to  the  glory  of  Him  who  was  just  about  to 
be  subjected  to  the  cursed  doom  of  a  malefactor. 

(2.)  Then  came  the  testimony  of  the  multitude 
that  went  out  to  meet  Him  as  He  came  to  the  city, 
cutting  down  branches  of  palm-trees  and  strewing 
their  garments  in  the  way,  and  shouting  Hosannah ! 
And  there  was  such  heartiness  in  their  shout,  and 
the  spirit  that  sought  in  this  way  to  honour  Him 
was  so  natural  and  so  strong  that,  in  the  words  of 
our  Lord  Himself,  "  If  these  had  held  their  peace, 
the  very  stones  would  have  cried  out !" 

(3.)  There  was  also  the  testimony  of  the  Greeks 
who  came  to  Philip  and  said,  ^'  Sir,  w^e  would  see 


318  HIS  FAREWELL. 

Jesus."  It  was  a  foreshadow,  as  Jesus  expressed  it, 
of  what  was  to  happen  when  He  should  be  "  lifted 
up."  His  exposure  on  the  cross,  meant  as  the 
crowning  token  of  His  disgrace,  would  prove  the 
grandest  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  His  royal  power 
— "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all 
men  to  me." 

(4.)  There  was  next  the  testimony  of  the  voice 
from  heaven.  When  the  prayer  went  from  his  lips, 
"Father,  glorify  thy  name" — there  came  a  voice 
which  said,  "  I  have  both  glorified  it,  and  I  will 
glorify  it  again." 

(5.)  Then  there  was  the  angel  in  Gethsemane  that 
came  to  comfort  Him. 

(6.)  There  was  the  dream  of  Pilate's  wife,  and  her 
earnest  endeavour  to  save  her  husband  from  the 
guilt  of  His  murder. 

(7.)  There  was  the  testimony  of  the  thief  on  the' 
cross,  bearing  so  emphatic  witness  to  His  kingly 
power,  and  the  certainty  of  His  uoming  in  His 
kingdom. 

(8.)  There  was  the  irrepressible  testimony  of  the 
centurion,  who  could  not  but  exclaim,  "  Truly  this 
man  was  the  Son  of  God." 

(9.)  And  lastly,  there  was  the  testimony  of 
nature, — earth  and  sun  moved  as  it  were  by  a  com- 
mon impulse, — the  sun  darkened,  the  earth  quak- 
ing, the  rocks  rent,  the  graves  opened, — all  com- 
bining to  testify  that  the  sufferer  on  the  cross  was 
in  very  deed  the  Son  of  God  ! 

All  this,  we  say,  was  fitted  to  keep  up  the  faith  of 
the  twelve  in  Jesus,  even  amid  the  awfully  depressing 
influences  of  the  crucifixion.     True,  it  may  be  said. 


HIS  FAREWELL.  319 

tliese  testimonies  were  of  little  practical  avail.  All 
the  disciples  forsook  Him  and  fled.  A  greater  sign 
than  any  or  all  of  them  was  needed — the  resur- 
rection from  the  dead.  We  grant  it  readily.  They 
wavered  till  they  saw  the  risen  Lord.  And  what 
a  proof  of  the  reality  of  the  resurrection  we  have 
in  the  fact  that  it  did  what  all  these  testimonies 
had  failed  to  do — made  a  complete  revolution  on 
the  faith  and  courage  of  the  apostles  ! 

But  the  earlier  testimonies  were  not  in  vain.  In 
after  times,  they  would  all  be  gratefully  recalled ; 
they  would  be  pieced  together  as  parts  of  the 
manifold  evidence  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God. 
All  the  memorials  of  Egypt  which  Jacob's  sons 
presented  to  their  father  after  their  second  visit, — 
the  money  in  the  sack's  mouth,  the  return  of 
Simeon,  the  narrow  escape  of  Benjamin,  failed  to 
convince  Jacob  that  his  son  was  alive,  till  he  saw 
the  wagons  that  Joseph  had  sent;  but  after  that, 
each  of  them  would  have  its  influence  in  deepening 
the  impression.  Even  to  us  who  have  never  known 
the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  as  a  depressing  influence, 
it  is  a  help  to  faith  to  remember  how  in  the  depth 
of  His  humiliation  the  very  air  was  laden  with 
testimonies  to  His  glory.  And  they  all  serve  to 
give  effect  to  that  conviction  which  our  Lord  was 
so  eager  to  impress  on  His  disciples, — that  all  that 
He  was  to  them  while  He  was  in  the  midst  of 
them,  He  is  still  to  His  servants,  and  will  be  to 
the  end  of  the  world.  What  a  fearless  attitude 
towards  all  the  forces  of  evil  may  even  the  weakest 
man,  or  the  feeblest  church  assume,  if  this  truth 
be  only  held  fast !    If  Jesus  be  among  us,  interested 


320  HIS  FAREWELL. 

in  our  service,  acquainted  with  all  our  difficulties, 
taking  the  burden  of  the  enterprise  on  Himself, 
how  calm  and  untroubled  may  the  attitude  of  our 
souls  be,  and  how  firm  our  assurance  of  victory  in 
the  end  ! 

To  impress  on  His  disciples  the  reality  of  His 
interest  in  them,  and  to  induce  them  to  think  and 
act  toward  Him  after  He  had  gone  as  if  He  were 
still  personally  among  them,  our  Lord  had  recourse 
to  three  things — acts,  words,  and  prayer. 

I.  His  acts  were  simple  but  very  memorable — 
instituting  the  Supper,  then  washing  their  feet. 

The  Supper  was  at  once  instructive  and  touching, 
it  was  an  everlasting  memorial  of  what  they  owed 
to  Him  personally — of  what  all  the  Church  owes 
to  Him — deliverance  through  His  sufferings  and 
death.  It  was  touching,  because  it  was  the  last 
such  meal  they  would  ever  have  together ;  and 
likewise  because  of  the  holy  tenderness  by  which 
the  bearing  of  their  Master  was  marked.  It  was 
like  the  soft  light  of  the  setting  sun,  when  earth 
is  bathed  in  the  gentlest  influences  of  heaven. 

Apparently,  it  was  a  most  unsuitable  time  for 
celebrating  the  old  passover.  The  passover  com- 
memorated a  great  deliverance.  Was  it  in  grim 
irony  that  this  feast  was  associated  with  the  events 
that  came  immediately  after,  in  the  experience  of 
Jesus  and  His  followers, — the  treachery  of  Judas, 
the  arraignment  of  Jesus  by  the  High  Priest,  the 
weak  surrender  of  Pilate,  and  at  last  the  shame  and 
horrors  of  the  crucifixion  ?  What  was  there  in  such 
utter  prostration  of  Him  and  His  cause  that  could 


HIS  FAPvE^VELL.  321 

be  linked  with  the  joyous  memories  of  that  night 
when  Israel,  following  the  fiery  pillar,  marched 
safely  through  the  depths  of  the  sea  ?  It  is  faith 
alone  that  can  give  a  satisfactory  answer ;  beneath 
the  surface  there  lay  a  profound  resemblance,  but 
only  faith  could  apprehend  it.  Through  the  breaking 
of  His  body  and  the  shedding  of  His  blood  there 
was  to  come  to  His  Church  a  deliverance  far  higher 
than  the  fathers  had  ever  known.  Death  to  Him 
meant  life  for  them.  The  Supper  was  to  keep  alive 
the  memory  of  His  sacrifice  and  of  His  love.  It 
was  to  be  the  token  of  the  great  Christian  deliver- 
ance to  the  very  end  of  time.  What  a  triumphant 
faith  our  Lord  must  have  had  in  the  success  and 
efficacy  of  His  work,  to  institute  this  symbol  of 
deliverance  and  eternal  blessing  on  the  very  eve 
of  His  crucifixion !  How  well  fitted  was  this  act 
to  lift  their  thoughts  high  above  all  the  outer 
tokens  of  defeat  and  humiliation  !  Things  were 
not  as  they  seemed.  The  grain  of  wheat  cast  into 
the  ground  might  seem  to  perish,  but  its  apparent 
death  would  issue  speedily  in  the  multiplication 
of  its  life  an  hundred-fold. 

The  act  in  which  the  Supper  was  instituted  was, 
moreover,  as  tender  in  manner  as  it  was  instructive 
in  matter.  A  common  meal  has  usually  a  kindly 
uniting  influence ;  in  a  family  circle,  on  the  eve  of 
some  great  bereavement,  this  is  peculiarly  found. 
Hearts  saddened  by  a  common  sorrow  are  more  dis- 
posed to  love,  and  are  more  ready  to  appreciate  love. 
The  act  of  washing  the  disciples'  feet,  with  which  our 
Lord  followed  up  the  Supper,  increased  their  ten- 
derness of  feeling,  and  sense  of  obligation.     It  was 

X 


322  HIS  FAREWELL. 

a  new  token  of  the  gracious  condescension  of  their 
Lord.  It  was  an  additional  reason  why  their  trust 
in  Him  should  continue  unabated.  But  it  was  more. 
"  I  have  given  you  an  example,"  He  said,  "  that 
ye  should  do  to  one  another  as  I  have  done  to  you." 
It  was  designed  to  foster  among  them  the  spirit  that 
should  keep  their  strength  from  being  wasted  in 
internal  strifes,  and  bind  them  in  a  strong,  united 
brotherhood.  It  was  by  brotherly  counsel  and 
united  prayer  that  their  work  was  to  be  carried 
on;  while  that  spirit  ruled  among  them,  all  would 
be  well,  but  if  they  should  begin  to  aim  at  lordly 
pre-eminence  and  seats  of  distinction,  the  very 
heart  would  be  torn  out  of  the  body. 

And  this  lesson  is  surely  needed  in  our  day,  as 
much  as  it  was  needed  in  the  apostles'.  Alas  !  that 
in  spite  of  all  our  Lord's  efforts  to  the  contrary, 
there  has  so  often  prevailed  in  the  deliberations  of 
Christian  brethren  the  spirit  of  scorn  and  carping, 
bitterness  and  irony !  Where  are  the  forbearance 
and  forgiveness,  the  love  and  confidence  of  brethren 
that  the  Master  did  so  much  to  encourage  ?  Why 
should  the  strife  as  to  who  should  be  greatest,  which 
He  did  so  much  to  suppress,  start  up  again  so  often  ? 
By  all  the  memories  of  that  Upper  Chamber, — by 
all  the  associations  of  that  Holy  Supper,  let  there 
prevail  among  us  a  habitual  watchfulness  against 
strife  and  bitterness,  and  an  earnest  endeavour  to 
live  and  love  as  brethren ! 

II.  Next,  let  us  consider  the  bearing  of  our  Lord's 
farewell  vjords.  We  do  not  dream  of  surveying  in 
all  its  length  and  breadth  the  wonderful  discourse 


HIS  FAREWELL.  323 

of  the  14th,  15th,  and  16th  chapters  of  John.  We 
confine  ourselves  to  its  'pastoral  aspect,  — the  influ- 
ence it  was  designed  to  have  in  keeping  up  the 
spirit  of  the  apostles  as  Christ's  public  servants, 
and  especially  in  encouraging  them  to  act  and  feel 
in  their  ministry  as  if  Jesus  Himself  were  still  pre- 
sent among  them. 

In  this  point  of  view,  the  first  words  of  the  14th 
chapter  are  the  key-note  of  the  whole.  "  Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled :  ye  believe  in  God,  believe 
ALSO  IX  ME."  He  wishes  them  to  labour  with  un- 
troubled hearts  ;  hearts  as  calm  as  those  of  servants 
going  on  a  simple  errand,  or  of  heralds  carrying 
a  plain  proclamation.  Terror,  perplexity,  gnawing 
anxiety,  is  not  the  right  spirit  of  His  ambassadors. 
It  was  not  the  spirit  of  the  heroes  even  of  the  old 
dispensation.  Moses  knew  it  not  when  he  followed 
the  pillar  through  the  sea ;  nor  Gideon  when  he 
advanced  with  his  three  hundred  on  the  hosts  of 
Midian ;  nor  David  when,  with  sling  and  stone,  he 
confronted  the  giant ;  nor  Elijah  when  the  word 
came  to  him,  Go,  show  thyself  to  King  Ahab; 
nor  Nehemiah  when  he  asked,  Should  such  a  man 
as  I  flee?  Though  we  wrestle  not  against  flesh 
and  blood,  but  against  principalities  and  powers, 
against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world, 
against  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places — our 
Master's  Word  to  us  is,  "  Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled."  Whatever  else  His  servants  may  be 
obliged  to  carry  about  with  them,  they  do  not  need 
to  carry  a  troubled  mind.  It  is  not  the  restless  eye 
and  quivering  lip  that  become  them,  but  the  child's 
look  of  confidence,  and  smooth  unruffled  brow. 


324  HIS  FAREWELL. 

Let  us  mark,  further,  the  ground  of  this  freedom 
from  trouble.  "  Ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in 
me."  Believe  in  me  in  like  manner  as  ye  believe 
in  God.  When  the  storm  rages,  you  believe  that  it 
will  soon  be  calm  again,  for  you  believe  in  a  God  that 
rides  on  the  wind,  and  governs  in  the  storm.  Believe 
that  in  my  government  of  the  Church  I  have  the 
same  power  as  my  Father  has  in  the  government 
of  the  world.  Lean  upon  me  as  you  lean  on  the 
Father,  and  you  will  say,  as  they  said  of  old,  "  God 
is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in 
time  of  trouble." 

This  being  the  key-note  of  the  farewell  address, 
its  details  to  a  large  extent  are  just  an  expansion  of 
this  thought.  Let  us  glance  very  briefly  at  some  of 
the  grounds  on  which  the  assurance  should  rest. 

1.  With  reference  to  Jesus  Himself,  we  are  called 
to  believe  that  He  is  now  with  the  Father  in  His 
house,  happy  in  His  love,  sharing  His  power,  enjoy- 
ing that  oneness  with  Him  which  He  had  from 
eternity,  and  which  He  manifested  so  clearly  in  the 
work  of  redemption.  He  tells  us  that  He  abides  in 
His  Father's  love,  that  He  is  in  the  Father,  and  the 
Father  in  Him,  that  they  that  have  seen  Him  have 
seen  the  Father  also.  Partner  of  almighty  strength, 
Jesus  is  abundantly  able  to  succour  His  own.  He 
is  one  with  Him  who  doeth  according  to  His  will 
in  the  armies  of  heaven  and  among  the  inhabitants 
of  earth.  "  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou 
at  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy 
footstool." 

2.  Christ  calls  on  His  servants  to  believe  in  Him 
as  still  lovin<^  them  and  interested  in  them.     He  is 


HIS  FAREWELL.  325 

leaving  them  now  only  for  a  little  time,  to  prepare 
a  place  for  them  in  His  leather's  house,  and  He  will 
come  again  to  receive  them  to  Himself,  that  where 
He  is  there  they  may  also  be.  Though  absent  in 
one  sense.  He  is  with  them  in  another.  "  I  will  not 
leave  you  orphans,  I  will  come  unto  you."  "  If  a 
man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words,  and  my  Father 
will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and 
make  our  abode  with  him."  Did  He  not  leave  His 
peace  with  them  just  in  order  that  their  hearts 
should  not  be  troubled  ?  Did  He  not  speak  to  them 
in  order  that  His  joy  might  remain  in  them,  and 
that  their  joy  might  be  full  ?  Was  He  not  giving 
them  the  strongest  possible  proof  of  His  love  in 
laying  down  His  life  for  them  ?  Had  He  not  lived 
on  confidential  terms  with  them,  making  known  to 
them  all  things  that  He  had  received  of  the  Father  ? 
A  relation  like  that  could  not  be  severed  by  His 
temporary  absence.  It  was  not  a  temporary  but  an 
abiding  relation.  "  If  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for 
you,  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  to  myself ; 
that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also."  It  was 
their  privilege  to  cherish  the  sense  of  this  change- 
less relation  to  the  Prince  of  Heaven.  The  same 
privilege  belongs  to  all  whom  He  has  called  to  serve 
Him  still.  Well  may  such  servants  hear  Him  say, 
"  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled." 

3.  They  were  to  believe  on  Him  as  still  employ- 
ing them  in  His  service,  fitting  them  for  it,  fitting 
them  even  for  its  greatest  and  most  difficult  achieve- 
ments. "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that 
believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do 
also;  and  greater  works  than  these   shall   he  do. 


326  HIS  FAREWELL. 

because  I  go  unto  my  Father."  His  going  to  the 
Father  was  to  bring  in  a  dispensation  not  of  less 
but  of  greater  power.  The  ladder  between  earth 
and  heaven  of  which  He  had  spoken  to  ISTathanael 
was  to  be  a  more  wonderful  medium  than  ever  for 
the  angels  of  God  to  ascend  and  descend.  "  What- 
soever ye  shall  ask  in  my  name  that  will  I  do,  that 
the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son.  If  ye  shall 
ask  anything  in  my  name,  I  will  do  it." 

Again  and  again  Christ  returns  to  this  privi- 
lege of  ampler  scope  for  prayer  under  the  Gospel, 
and  greater  power  in  it  to  His  people.  "  If  ye 
abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall 
ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you." 
Again,  towards  the  end  of  the  discourse.  He  says, 
"  In  that  day  ye  shall  ask  me  nothing  [no  question]. 
Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  the  Father  in  my  name,  He  will  give  it  you. 
Hitherto  have  ye  asked  nothing  in  my  name :  ask, 
and  ye  shall  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full." 
Prayer  was  to  occupy  a  place  of  greater  prominence 
and  importance  imder  the  new  economy.  But  it 
was  to  be  prayer  addressed  to  One  who  was  waiting 
and  watching  for  the  cry  of  His  children,  and  ready 
to  act  as  Isaiah  describes — "  It  shall  come  to  pass 
that  before  they  call,  I  will  answer,  and  while  they 
are  yet  speaking,  I  will  hear."  It  was  evidently  a 
special  aim  of  Christ's  to  encourage  free,  confidential 
fellowship  between  Him  and  His  apostles  by  prayer. 
And  those  who  entered  most  fully  and  cordially  into 
this  fellowship  got  from  Him  the  largest  amount  of 
power.  So  it  ever  has  been,  so  it  ever  shall  be ;  for  it  is 
the  rule  of  the  kingdom :  "Ask  and  ye  shall  receive." 


HIS  FAKEWELL.  327 

4.  But,  perliap?',  of  all  features  of  tlie  farewell 
address,  the  most  prominent  is  one  that  has  yet  to 
be  noticed.  Our  Lord  called  on  the  apostles  to 
believe  in  Hira,  because  He  was  to  pray  the  Father, 
and  He  would  send  them  another  Comforter,  even 
the  Spirit  of  Truth,  to  abide  with  them  for  ever. 
This  was  the  consideration  that  turned  the  scale. 
Up  to  this  point  the  considerations  urged  were 
undoubtedly  powerful,  but  they  could  hardly  suffice 
to  show  them  that  the  balance  of  advantage  was  on 
the  side  of  Christ's  leaving  them,  or  to  induce  them 
to  go  to  work  as  if  He  were  personally  among 
them.  But  the  glorious  gift  of  the  Spirit  was  to 
prove  a  real  compensation  for  His  personal  absence. 

The  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  to  be  two- 
fold— on  the  apostles,  and  on  the  world.  In  His 
action  on  them  He  was  to  teach  them  all  things ; 
He  was  to  bring  all  things  to  their  remembrance 
that  Christ  had  said  to  them  ;  to  guide  them  into  all 
the  truth  ;  to  show  them  things  to  come ;  to  receive 
of  Christ's,  and  to  show  it  to  them.  A  glorious 
inward  illumination  and  heavenly  quickening  was 
thus  to  come  upon  them. 

In  reference  to  the  world,  the  Spirit  was  to  con- 
vince it  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment, 
and  thus  prepare  it  for  receiving  their  words.  He 
was  at  once  to  prepare  the  soil  for  the  seed,  and  the 
seed  for  the  soil.  He  was  to  save  the  apostles  from 
the  barren  task  of  scattering  seed  on  hard  rocks, 
and  to  enable  them  to  realise  what  they  got  in 
symbol  in  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes.  We 
know  how  this  was  fulfilled  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 
The  fi^jrure  of  the  ladder  between  earth  and  heaven 


328  HIS  FAREWELL. 

was  verified.  For  ten  days  of  continuous  prayer,  the 
messengers  went  upward,  and  when  the  day  of 
Pentecost  was  fully  come  the  angels  descended,  the 
Spirit  Himself  came  down  in  a  mighty  stream  of 
blessing.  The  power  came  from  heaven  that  was 
needed  to  turn  men's  hearts  to  God.  Just  as  in 
nature  it  is  the  sun  that  draws  up  water  from  the 
earth  to  form  the  clouds  of  heaven,  so  in  the  king- 
dom of  grace  it  is  the  Divine  Spirit  that  draws  human 
souls  heavenward,  by  first  drawing  them  to  Christ. 

The  gift  of  the  Spirit  is  like  the  gift  of  the  sun. 
When  our  Lord  promised  this  gift  as  an  equivalent 
for  His  personal  absence,  the  apostles  would  pro- 
bably have  deemed  it  impossible  that  it  should  be 
so.  But  wdien  they  witnessed  the  triumphs  of  the 
day  of  Pentecost  they  would  be  of  a  different  mind. 
The  power  of  heaven  was  exerted  then  in  the 
spiritual  world  far  beyond  the  measure'of  its  exercise 
even  in  the  personal  ministry  of  Christ.  Valleys 
were  exalted  and  mountains  laid  low ;  the  crooked 
became  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain ;  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  was  revealed,  and  all  flesh  saw 
His  salvation. 

The  lesson  thus  taught  respecting  the  value  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  His  boundless  power  in  the 
spiritual  w^orld,  is  most  certainly  a  lesson  for  all 
time.  The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  His 
place  in  the  process  of  redemption,  is  no  mere  ques- 
tion of  theory,  but  a  practical  truth  of  supreme 
importance.  Times  when  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit 
has  been  neglected,  or  when  the  Spirit  has  been 
regarded  as  simply  an  influence  from  the  Father, 
have  always  been  times  of  lifeless  desolation  in  the 


Ills  FAEEWELL.  329 

Church.  SensoDS  of  spiritual  awakeniug,  and  of 
great  accessions  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  have  as 
certainly  been  times  when  tlie  Church  has  believed 
profoundly  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  sought  His  presence 
most  earnestly,  and  watched  against  all  that  was 
fitted  to  resist,  or  vex,  or  quench  Him.  And  just  in 
proportion  as  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  have  felt 
that  spiritual  power  was  not  in  them,  have  sought 
to  be  simply  instruments  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
have  placed  themselves  at  His  disposal  that  through 
them  He  might  carry  on  His  work  in  the  world  :  in 
the  same  proportion  has  spiritual  power  been  given  ; 
the  devil,  the  world,  and  the  flesh  have  been  de- 
feated ;  souls  have  been  brought  into  the  kingdom, 
and  built  up  in  the  character  and  attainments  of 
Christ's  people. 

ITT.  We  have  yet  to  notice  the  third  of  the 
farewell  influences  which  our  Lord  brought  to  bear 
on  His  apostles — His  farewell  jprayer.  But  here, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  farewell  address,  we  can  but 
glance  at  those  features  of  the  prayer  which  bear 
on  the  public  service  of  the  apostles,  and  the  rela- 
tion in  which  they  were  to  stand  to  Him  after  His 
departure. 

In  this  respect,  perhaps,  the  prayer  is  somewhat 
of  a  surprise  to  us.  It  hardly  appears  to  recognise 
the  position  of  the  apostles.  It  does  not  seem  from 
it  that  these  feeble,  ignorant  fishermen  are  about  to 
go  forth  to  conquer  the  world.  We  do  not  find  the 
petitions  we  might  have  expected  to  find  on  their 
behalf,  for  courage,  for  endurance  in  the  prospect  of 
all  they  have  to  suffer,  for  divine  might  to  conquer 


330  HIS  FAREWELL. 

their  enemies,  for  grace  to  triumph  over  all  the 
machinations  of  evil,  for  the  wisdom  that  turns 
many  to  righteousness,  or  even  for  the  tongue  of  the 
learned,  that  they  might  be  able  to  speak  a  word  in 
season  to  him  that  was  weary. 

Yet  the  Lord  knew  all  their  case.  He  did  not 
care  at  such  a  time  to  launch  out  into  all  the  details 
of  petition  that  might  be  suitable  on  their  behalf. 
He  preferred  to  ask  for  them  the  very  essence  of 
blessing,  the  very  elixir  of  life, — that  which,  if 
granted,  would  spread  out  in  all  necessary  direc- 
tions, and  abundantly  fit  them  for  the  highest 
service. 

And  that  which  He  thus  emphatically  asks  is, 
that  the  Father  would  keep  them  in  His  name, 
that  they  might  he  one,  as  He  and  the  Father  were 
(ver.  11).  Unity  is  the  grand  object  of  His  ]3eti- 
tion.  And  when  He  extends  His  prayer  beyond 
the  apostles  then  living,  to  those  who  should 
afterwards  believe  on  Him  through  their  word,  it  is 
still  "  that  they  all  may  be  one ;  as  thou,  Father, 
art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee"  (ver.  21).  And  when  He 
speaks  of  the  consummation  of  His  work,  it  is  still 
in  the  same  terms,  "  I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,  that 
they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one  "  (ver.  23).  There 
are  other  petitions  for  them, — that  they  may  be 
kept  from  the  evil  in  the  world,  and  that  they  may 
be  sanctified  through  the  truth ;  but  this  thrice- 
repeated  prayer  for  unity  is  manifestly  at  the  head 
of  all :  of  all  things  that  Christ  besought  the  Father 
for  His  servants,  on  the  eve  of  His  leaving  them, 
the  greatest  and  the  highest  was,  that  through 
Christ  in  them  they  might  be  one,  and  that  the 


HIS  FAREWELL.  331 

unity  might  be  such  as  to  correspond '  in  some 
measure  with  the  oneness  there  had  been  from 
eternity  between  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

It  is  often  supposed  that  what  our  Lord  prayed 
for  was  simply  that  His  followers  might  be  kept 
from  quarrelling  among  themselves,  and  that  they 
might  not  be  split  up  into  a  multitude  of  separate 
organisations.  But  if  we  examine  the  petition  with 
care  we  shall  see  that  it  goes  far  deeper  than  this. 
The  essence  of  the  unity  sought  is  oneness  with 
Christ — "  I  in  them."  That  the  apostles,  and  all 
who  should  thereafter  believe  on  Him  through  their 
word,  might  be  ever  in  vital  union  with  Himself,  as 
He  was  in  vital  union  with  the  Father ;  that  in  this 
way  they  might  draw  out  -of  His  fulness,  even 
grace  for  grace ;  that  the  Church  might  never  be- 
come a  lifeless  corpse,  separated  from  the  fountain 
of  life,  but  might  ever  be  an  incarnation  of  Him- 
self, each  member  living  by  faith  on  the  Son  of 
God ;  that  thus,  in  all  circumstances,  she  might  have 
access  to  the  one  source  of  spiritual  life,  and  draw 
from  Him  in  such  manner  that  His  grace  might  be 
sufficient  for  her,  and  His  strength  perfected  in  her 
weakness — such  was  the  farewell  prayer  of  our 
Lord.  Virtually  it  was  a  prayer,  that  though  He 
was  to  be  absent  from  them  in  the  flesh,  they 
njight  have  Him  with  them  in  the  spirit ;  guiding 
all  their  steps,  fulfilling  all  their  desires,  blessing  all 
their  work. 

And  this  spiritual  oneness  with  Christ  is  ever  the 
supreme  condition  of  a  prospering  Church.  Who- 
ever would  be  a  successful  minister  must  look  to 
this  far  above   any  other  condition  of  prosperity. 


332  HIS  FAREWELL. 

Only  thus  cau  he  wield  spiritual  power,  and  be- 
come a  dispenser  of  spiritual  blessing.  "  I  in  them, 
and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in 
one ;  and  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast 
sent  me,  and  that  thou  hast  loved  them  as  thou  hast 
loved  me."  Whatever  else  we  desire  for  our 
ministry,  above  all  let  us  desire  tliis  spiritual  one- 
ness with  our  Lord.  The  good  Lord  pardon  all  our 
eagerness  for  less  hallowed  unions — our  longings 
for  the  countenance  of  the  great  and  wealthy,  or  the 
wise  and  prudent  of  the  world ;  may  we  ever  feel 
how  trifling  any  good  must  be  which  they  can  do 
us,  compared  with  that  which  comes  from  the 
indwelling  and  inworking  in  the  Church  of  the 
blessed  Spirit  of  our  glorious  Lord. 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 

HIS   EE-APPEARANCE. 

The  re- appearance  of  Jesus  to  His  disciples  after 
His  resurrection  had  many  glorious  effects ;  it  gave 
a  new  foundation  to  their  faith ;  it  filled  them  with 
hope  and  courage ;  it  showed  tliem  how  gloriously 
He  had  triumphed,  and  how  acceptable  His  sacri- 
fice had  been  in  the  Father's  sight.  But  our  sub- 
ject does  not  lead  us  into  the  more  general  bearings 
of  the  resurrection.  The  one  aspect  of  the  event 
with  which  we  have  to  do  is  its  bearing  on  the 
work  of  the  twelve.  Did  He  give  them  any  new 
instructions  on  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom? 
Did  He  bring  any  new  influence  to  bear  on  them 
with  a  view  to  their  work  ?  Or  did  He  intensify 
any  of  the  views,  which  He  had  formerly  taught 
them,  or  deepen  the  spirit  with  which  He  had 
sought  to  inspire  them  ? 

1.  One  great  pastoral  lesson  which  He  had  already 
taught  was  intensified  by  the  peculiar  manner  in 
which  He  presented  Himself  among  them  after  the 
resurrection.  It  was  the  lesson  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  so  prominent  in  His  farewell  words — 
encouraging  them  to  carry  on  their  work  after  He 
should  leave  them  with  the  same  reliance  on  Him, 

333 


334  HIS  RE-APPEAEANCE. 

and  tlie  same  sense  of  His  sympathy  and  guidance 
as  if  He  were  visibly  present.  His  intercourse  with 
them  during  the  forty  days  of  the  resurrection  period 
was  such  that  He  could  not  be  said  to  be  either  pre- 
sent or  absent.  It  was  a  transition  period,  during 
which  He  would  now  and  again  present  Himself 
suddenly  among  them,  while  for  the  most  part  He 
was  as  far  off  as  if  He  had  been  in  a  different  world. 
They  were  getting  weaned  from  the  life  of  sense, 
and  initiated  into  tlie  life  of  faith — translated  from 
a  condition  of  sensible  into  a  condition  of  spiritual 
intercourse.  From  time  to  time  He  would  glide 
into  their  company,  so  that  they  could  not  but  see 
that  He  was  profoundly  interested  in  them  and 
bound  up  with  them  in  their  work ;  but  they  could 
not  detain  Him,  they  knew  not  whither  He  went, 
and  there  was  no  spot  of  earth  where  they  might 
hope  to  find  Him.  He  who  had  never  been  further 
away  from  them  than  the  top  of  some  neighbour- 
ing hill  to  wdiich  He  had  retired  ibr  prayer,  and 
on  whose  return  next  day  they  could  count  so 
surely,  was  not  now  as  He  had  been  then :  it  was 
but  glimpses  of  Him  they  could  obtain.  But  the 
experience  of  these  mysterious  weeks  prepared  them 
for  the  next  stage  of  tlieir  career,  after  He  finally 
left  them  and  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  God. 
The  sense  of  His  interest  in  them  and  readiness 
to  help  them  which  the  transition  period  had 
fostered,  remained  with  them  when  the  cloud  re- 
ceived Him  out  of  their  sight.  Their  whole  work 
was  carried  on  in  the  firm  belief  that  Jesus  lived ; 
that  though  their  eyes  beheld  Him  not,  He  was 
still  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  that  men  and  devils 


HIS  RE-APPEAKANCE.  335 

were  as  mucli  under  His  control  as  wben  He  was 
among  them.  And  if  this  was  the  lesson  for  the 
apostles  of  this  strange  chapter  of  our  Lord's  life, 
it  is  not  less  the  lesson  for  us.  To  all  truly  conse- 
crated servants,  to  us  if  we  have  given  ourselves  up 
entirely  to  His  service,  He  is  as  much  a  reality.  His 
sympathy  is  as  true,  His  help  is  as*  real,  as  if  He 
were  present  at  our  side.  Let  us  live  and  work  as 
with  a  present  Lord,  and  we  may  rely  on  wonders 
of  spiritual  power  being  done  among  us,  as  signs 
and  wonders  were  done  among  the  apostles,  in 
the  name  of  God's  holy  child  Jesus. 

The  consciousness  of  the  actual  though  unseen 
presence  of  Jesus  may  be  readily  traced  in  the  pro- 
cedure of  the  Church  after  His  ascension.  The 
prayer  at  the  election  of  the  successor  to  Judas, 
"  Thou,  Lord,  which  knowest  the  hearts  of  all  men, 
show  whether  of  these  two  thou  hast  chosen,"  was 
precisely  such  a  request  as  they  might  have  made 
had  Jesus  been  sittings  at  their  side.  The  "ift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  felt  to 
be  as  really  the  doing  of  Jesus  as  the  wine  at  the 
marriage  feast  of  Cana,  or  the  miraculous  draught 
of  fishes  on  the  lake.  "  Being  by  the  right  hand  of 
God  exalted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father  the 
promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  hath  shed  forth  this 
which  ye  now  see  and  hear."  It  was  He  that  healed 
the  lame  man  at  the  temple  as  truly  as  He  had 
healed  the  paralytic,  or  the  woman  bowed  down 
by  infirmity.  The  dying  Stephen  got  a  glimpse 
with  the  bodily  eye  of  that  same  Jesus  whom  he 
had  seen  so  habitually  with  the  eye  of  faith.  And 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  on  the  way  to  Damascus,  got  some- 


336  HIS  RE- APPEARANCE. 

thing  more  than  a  glimpse — had  an  actual  personal 
interview  with  the  living  Jesus,  and  the  most  blessed 
personal  communication  ever  experienced  of  His 
grace  and  power.  This  sense  of  the  presence  of 
their  living  Lord,  so  manifest  in  the  early  Church, 
lends  a  perpetual  charm  to  its  history,  and  goes  far 
to  explain  its  'holy,  tranquil  atmosphere,  and  its 
wonderful  spiritual  power. 

2.  In  the  pastoral  dealings  of  the  risen  Saviour 
with  His  servants  we  note  the  special  pains  which 
He  took  to  open  up  to  them  the  Scriptures.  If  it 
be  asked  why  He  left  this  to  the  very  end,  the 
answer  is,  that  the  lesson  which  He  gave  then  could 
not  have  been  given  with  success  at  any  previous 
time.  It  was  only  in  the  light  of  His  own  death 
that  these  Scriptures  could  become  so  luminous  and 
satisfactory  as  they  were  felt  to  be.  No  laboured 
expositions  of  Hillel  or  Gamaliel  could  have  thrown 
on  Moses  or  Isaiah  one  atom  of  the  light  that  was 
poured  on  them  on  the  way  to  Emmaus,  when, 
beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  tlie  Stranger 
expounded  to  the  two  disciples,  in  all  the  Scriptures, 
the  things  concerning  Himself.  To  the  larger  audi- 
ence gathered  the  same  evening  in  Jerusalem  the 
same  views  were  presented,  when  Jesus  showed 
how  all  things  that  were  written  concerning  Him 
in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in 
the  psalms,  were  now  fulfilled.  What  a  wonderful 
revelation  it  must  have  been  !  In  the  law  of  Moses, 
the  altar  of  burnt-offering,  the  scape-goat,  the  solemn 
entrance  of  the  high  priest  into  the  holy  of  holies, 
and  a  thousand  other  ceremonies,  would  receive 
their  explanation.     In   the   prophets,  the  wail    of 


HIS  RE-APPEARANCE.  337 

Isaiah  over  Him  who  bore  our  griefs  and  carried 
our  sorrows ;  the  mysterious  prophecy  of  Daniel 
that  after  threescore  and  two  weeks  Messiah  would 
be  cut  off,  but  not  for  Himself;  the  dark  call  in 
Zechariah  for  the  sword  to  aNvake  against  God's 
shepherd,  and  against  the  man  that  was  His  fellow, 
would  all  be  placed  in  the  light  of  day.  The  terrible 
darkness  in  some  of  the  psalms ;  the  cry  from  the 
twenty-second  that  had  been  uttered  on  the  cross ; 
the  wail  of  the  sixty-ninth  when  the  waters  had 
come  in  unto  His  soul;  the  lamentation  of  the 
eighty-eighth  over  the  fierce  wrath  that  went 
over  Him,  w^ould  pass  into  a  brightness  unknown 
before.  It  is  remarkable  that  while  bringing  the 
Old  Testament  dispensation  to  an  end,  our  Lord 
inspired  His  apostles  with  more  respect  than  ever 
for  its  institutions  and  its  Scriptures.  A  flood  of 
light  was  poured  on  both.  The  great  purpose  of  the 
sacrificial  system,  vast  and  manifold  as  it  was,  was 
revealed.  Instead  of  discarding  the  Old  Testament 
ceremonies  as  an  elaborate  mistake,  their  signifi- 
cance, as  well  as  their  Divine  origin,  was  more 
clearly  shown.  The  Mosaic  economy  never  seemed 
more  Divine  than  at  the  moment  of  its  departure. 
It  shone  out  with  a  Divine  glory,  like  the  beautiful 
ice-crystals  of  a  winter  morning,  that  gleam  like 
pearls  and  diamonds  under  the  sunbeam  that  is  to 
melt  them  away. 

Can  we  reasonabh'  doubt  that  our  Lord's  ex- 
planation of  His  sufferings  set  them  forth  as  the 
propitiation,  the  penalty  of  man's  sin  borne  by  the 
substitute  ?  What  other  view  can  be  conceived  that 
would  make  the  hearts  of  hearers  burn  within  them, 

Y 


338  HIS  RE- APPEARANCE. 

that  would  be  to  them  like  the  lifting  of  a  cloud 
from  the  sides  and  summit  of  a  mountain,  revealing 
in  clear  form  and  bright  colours  what  had  only 
loomed  like  a  dark  mass  before  ? 

It  is  painful  to  see  the  shifts  to  which  able  men, 
who  deny  the  sacrificial  character  of  the  sufferings 
of  Christ,  are  put,  by  their  efforts  to  find  some  other 
view  of  these  sufferings  at  all  worthy  of  the  infinite 
importance  ascribed  to  them  in  Scripture.  We  may 
well  be  grateful  to  any  who  have  taught  ns  to 
value  the  self-sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  have  laid  em- 
phasis on  the  beautiful  surrender  of  His  will  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  on  the  patient,  loving  endurance 
which  His  desire  to  benefit  men  entailed  on  the 
great  Sufferer.  But  was  this  enough  to  form  the 
burden  of  a  whole  series  of  Divine  writings  ?  Was 
this  enough  to  furnish  the  key  to  the  main  rites 
and  ordinances  of  an  elaborate  dispensation,  of  which 
sacrifice  by  the  shedding  of  blood  was  the  chief 
feature  ?  Was  the  whole  result  of  rifteen  hundred 
years  of  burnt- offering  and  incense,  of  all  that  Moses 
had  instituted,  of  all  that  David  had  sung,  of  all 
that  the  prophets  had  foretold  of  Messiah,  simply  to 
make  it  more  clear,  that  it  is  only  through  self- 
sacrifice  and  suffering  that  the  highest  benefits  can 
accrue  to  men  ? 

The  prominence  which,  on  the  very  day  of  His 
resurrection, — on  the  very  birth-day  of  the  Christian 
Church, — our  blessed  Lord  thus  gave  to  the  doctrine 
of  His  sufferings,  ought  surely  to  find  for  it  a 
corresponding  place  in  the  ministrations  of  all  His 
servants  and  witnesses.  It  is  certain  that  it  obtained 
that  place  in  the  ministrations  of  the  apostles,  and 


HIS  RE-APPEAKANCE.  339 

that  it  was  one  of  the  great  factors  in  the  early 
success  of  the  Gospel.  Its  occupying  the  central 
place  imposes  no  necessity  on  the  modern  preacher 
to  restrict  himself  to  the  mere  iteration  of  evangelical 
first  principles,  or  leave  out  of  his  teaching  any 
topic  that  bears  on  the  welfare  either  of  the  indi- 
vidual or  of  the  society.  In  the  centre  of  the  solar 
system,  the  sun  occupies  the  best  position  for  in- 
fluencing every  planet,  but  his  rays  go  forth  quite 
readily  to  the  furthest  outskirts  of  the  system. 
"  Christ  crucified  "  in  the  centre  of  the  Gospel  firma- 
ment, is  fitted  to  irradiate  the  whole  sphere  of 
moral  and  spiritual  truth,  and  increase  the  power 
of  every  motive,  and  elevate  the  aim  of  every 
project  that  seeks  to  advance  the  true  welfare  of 
man. 

3.  We  come  now  to  a  point  of  very  great  practical 
interest  in  our  Lord's  dealings  with  His  apostles 
after  His  resurrection — the  instructions  which  He 
gave  them  regarding  the  setting  up  and  extension  of 
His  kingdom. 

Having  already  adverted  to  His  special  dealings 
with  two  of  His  apostles,  Peter  and  Thomas,  whose 
cases  were  peculiar,  we  do  not  need  to  dw^ell  on 
these  again.  We  simply  remark  how  interesting  it 
is  to  find  Him  thus  occupied  with  the  case  of  indivi- 
duals, even  when  His  mind  was  filled  with  so  vast 
a  scheme  as  the  evangelisation  of  the  world.  But 
for  that  great  work  it  was  indispensable  that  the 
agents  be  well  equipped,  and  inasmuch  as  love  and 
faith  were  the  two  great  qualities  through  which 
the  conversion  of  the  world  was  to  be  accomplished, 
care  was  taken  to  make  sure  of  these  qualities  in 


340  HIS  RE- APPEARANCE. 

two  of  the  cliief  instruments.  Alas  for  any  churcli 
where  no  bright  faith  and  no  warm  love  move  the 
hearts  of  its  ministers  1 

It  would  seem  that  not  a  little  was  spoken  by  our 
Lord  after  His  resurrection  "  concerning  the  kingdom 
of  God"  (Acts  i.  3)  which  has  not  been  formally 
recorded.  It  is  certainly  remarkable  that  Luke  has 
given  us  no  notes  of  these  conversations,  which 
could  not  have  failed  to  be  profoundly  interesting. 
We  must  conclude  that  the  substance  of  them  was 
reproduced  by  the  apostles  in  their  subsequent  dis- 
courses and  proceedings.  Though  the  conversations 
are  not  recorded  in  form,  they  are  translated  into 
fact ;  the  actual  church  of  Peter  and  John  and  the 
rest  of  the  apostles  must  have  been  the  transcript  of 
our  Lord's  instructions. 

That  the  chief  thing  of  which  our  Lord  would 
speak  to  them  was  the  coming  work  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  can  hardly  admit  of  reasonable  doubt.  In 
His  farewell  address  this  had  been  a  prominent 
topic ;  and  not  a  few  things  seem  to  indicate  that  it 
w^as  not  less  so  after  He  rose  from  the  dead. 

Thus,  on  the  very  first  evening  after  His  re- 
surrection, we  read  that  "  he  breathed  on  them  and 
said,  Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost:  whose  soever 
sins  ye  forgive,  they  are  forgiven  unto  them ; 
whose  soever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained" 
(John  XX.  22,  23). 

Few"  passages  have  given  rise  to  more  diversity  of 
explanation.  What  was  denoted  by  Christ's  breath- 
ing on  them  ?  It  seems  plain  that  it  w-as  not  on 
this  occasion  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  actually  given 
to  the  apostles.      The  very  men  on  whom  Christ 


HIS  KE-APPEARANCE.  341 

breathed  at  this  time  are  called  on  afterwards  to 
tarry  at  Jerusalem  until  they  should  be  endued  with 
power  from  on  high.  The  act  of  Jesus  was  sym- 
bolical and  prophetic.  It  foreshadowed  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  and  His  words  denoted  the  awfully 
solemn  issues  with  which  the  brethren  were  to  be 
called  to  deal.  They  would  encounter  multitudes 
in  great  anxiety  about  their  sins,  and  on  their  in- 
structions and  spirit  it  would  depend  to  a  large  ex- 
tent whether  these  multitudes  should  be  guided  to 
the  fountain  of  forgiveness,  or  whether  they  would 
perish  in  their  guilt.  As  they  were  to  be  the  instru- 
ments of  giving  in  the  plainest  terms  God's  message 
to  men,  and  men  were  to  be  called  by  them  to  deal 
with  that  message,  they  would  be  able  to  assure 
those  who  accepted  it  that  their  sins  were  forgiven, 
and  those  who  rejected  it  that  they  were  as  far 
from  forgiveness  as  ever.  There  are  doubtless 
difficulties  connected  with  this  interpretation;  but 
there  are  far  greater  difficulties  in  any  view  that 
gives  to  the  apostles  an  absolute  power  of  forgiving 
and  retaining  sin.  It  is  certain  that  they  never 
claimed  such  a  power ;  Peter  pointed  to  the  exalted 
Saviour  as  the  only  source  of  forgiveness  (Acts  v. 
31),  and  they  all  were  accustomed  to  urge  sinners  to 
deal  directly  with  Him,  if  they  would  be  forgiven 
(Acts  viii.  22  ;  xi.  43  ;  xvi.  31).  Our  Lord's  purpose 
seems  to  have  been  to  convey  to  His  apostles  a  be- 
coming sense  of  the  solemnity  of  the  work  in  which 
they  were  to  be  engaged.  Their  ministry  was  not  to 
be  a  ministry  of  shadows,  like  that  of  the  Aaronitic 
priesthood ;  nor  a  ministry  of  promises,  like  John  the 
Baptist's ;  it  was  to  be  a  ministry  of  facts.  Trembling 
Y  2 


342  HIS  RE-APPEARANCE. 

souls  would  come  under  their  care,  agitated  by- 
all  tlie  agony  of  remorse  and  the  terrible  fore- 
bodings of  coming  retribution;  to  deal  with  such 
they  were  utterly  incompetent,  unless  they  enjoyed 
the  guidance  of  a  higher  agency — the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

It  was  to  the  same  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
that  our  Lord  directed  their  thoughts  when  they 
conveyed  to  Him  their  still  lingering,  yet  wistful 
desire  that  even  yet  He  would  set  up  a  visible  king- 
dom in  Israel  (Acts  i.  6).  Fain  would  they  have 
had  Him  confront  in  His  own  person  the  great 
forces  of  disorder  in  the  world,  and  erect  a  visible 
kingdom  that  would  have  been  a  rallying  ground  for 
all  His  followers.  They  were  still  oppressed  by  the 
consciousness  of  their  impotence,  and  the  impotence 
of  any  force  they  knew  of,  to  get  up  His  kingdom 
and  rectify  the  disorders  of  the  world.  But  our 
Lord  gave  no  encouragement  to  such  views.  "  Ye 
shall  receive  power,"  He  said,  "  after  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  come  upon  you ;  and  ye  shall  be  witnesses 
unto  me  both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  Judea,  and  in 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 
Here  was  the  function  of  the  apostles — "  ye  shall  be 
witnesses  unto  me ; "  and  here  was  the  power  which 
would  make  their  testimony  effective — "  after  that 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you."  Little  did  they 
know  what  moral  force  would  be  found  in  such 
testimony,  when  made  effective  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost ! 

The  lesson  is  as  suitable  to  us  as  it  was  to  them. 
It  may  be  a  humble  office — to  be  simply  witnesses 
to  Christ.     Not  priests,  dispensing  the  awards  of  life 


HIS  RE- APPEARANCE.  343 

and  deatli ;  not  philosophers,  reasoning  cleverly  on 
.  i/he  nature  of  things,  and  constructing  theories  of 
^^e  universe ;  not  princes,  wielding  the  powers 
of  this  world.  They  were  to  be  only  witnesses ; 
servants  whose  business  is  to  tell  about  another, — 
His  birth,  His  death,  His  atonement.  His  coming 
again;  and  to  persuade  men  to  believe  on  Him 
"  who  of  God  is  made  unto  us  wisdom,  and  righteous- 
ness, and  sanctification,  and  redemption."  It  was  a 
strange  idea  that  the  devil  would  be  subdued  and 
the  world  transformed  by  any  such  process — as 
strange  as  the  notion  that  carrying  the  ark  round 
the  walls  of  Jericho  would  be  followed  by  the 
overthrow  of  her  fortresses.  But  at  Jericho,  the 
strange  idea  was  realised;  and  at  Jerusalem,  too, 
the  witness  of  the  apostles  to  Christ  became  the 
means  of  a  great  moral  revolution ; — not  only  was 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  received  as  the  Son  of  God, 
but  under  Him  night  seemed  to  turn  to  day  and 
winter  to  summer,  and  every  moral  wilderness  there 
and  elsewhere  seemed  to  brighten  with  the  hues  of 
Paradise. 

And  now  came  out  clearly  the  extent  of  our 
Lord's  scheme,  as  committed  to  these  twelve  men. 
They  were  to  be  witnesses  for  Him  "  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth."  "  Go  ye  into  all  the 
world,"  He  said,  "  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  "  Go  ye  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  i'ather,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe 
all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you." 
Now  it  was  made  clear  what  meaning  He  attached 
to  the  promise  to  Abraham — "  In  thee  and  in  thy 


344  HIS  RE-APPEARANCE. 

seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed.'* 
It  was  plain  how  He  understood  those  expressions 
in  the  psalms  that  call  on  God  "  to  inherit  all  na- 
tions," and  that  call  on  "  all  lands  to  make  a  joyful 
noise  unto  God."  No  shadow  of  restriction  was  to 
be  placed  on  Isaiah's  vision  when  "  the  mountain 
of  the  Lord's  house  should  be  exalted  above  the 
mountains,  and  all  nations  should  flow  unto  it " — 
when  Zion  should  "  arise  and  shine,  and  the  Gentiles 
should  come  to  her  light,  and  kings  to  the  bright- 
ness of  her  rising."  In  His  obscure  workshop  at 
Nazareth  this  Master  of  theirs  had  formed  the 
scheme  of  a  kingdom  wider  than  the  empire  of  the 
Caesars,  under  which  His  name  would  not  command 
the  homage  of  one  great  continent  only,  but  would 
stand  alone,  pre-eminent  in  honour  and  glory,  over 
all  the  globe.  All  the  glory  of  David  or  of  Solo- 
mon was  but  child's  play  compared  to  the  re- 
nown to  which  He  aspired, — that  is,  compared 
to  the  amount  of  blessing  which  He  aimed  at 
diffusing.  What  a  project  to  enter  into  the  brain 
of  a  penniless  and  friendless  young  man,  bred 
in  the  obscurity  of  a  miserable  village,  and  having 
for  His  companions  and  coadjutors  a  mere  hand- 
ful of  fishermen !  What  a  surprise  it  must  have 
been  to  these  fishermen  to  hear  Him  proclaim  the 
boundless  reach  of  His  ambition,  to  anhounce  His 
claim  to  kingdoms  wider  far  than  those  of  which 
the  tempter  at  the  outset  of  His  ministry  had 
offered  to  put  Him  in  possession!  And  how 
much  greater  their  surprise  to  learn  that  they 
were  to  be  the  instruments  of  carrying  into  effect 
this  world-wide  project — that  "  their  sound  was  to 


HIS  EE- APPEARANCE.  345 

go  into  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  unto  the  ends 
of  the  world  !" 

There  was  one  thing,  however,  that  made  the 
scheme  a  feasible  one,  and  that  encouraged  the 
apostles  to  address  themselves  to  it  in  earnest. 
"All  power,"  said  Jesus,  "is  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  on  earth."  His  authority  and  His 
ability  to  carry  out  His  schemes  are  beyond  ques- 
tion. There  is  no  power  in  heaven  and  earth  which 
He  is  not  able  to  control.  However  far  He 
may  allow  men  to  encroach  on  His  domain.  He 
always  keeps  hold  of  the  restrictive  word :  "Hitherto 
and  no  further."  This  fact  is  one  of  infinite  im- 
portance for  the  faith  of  His  servants  to  grasp.  The 
apostles  did  grasp  it,  and  hence  their  courage,  their 
hope,  and  their  success.  By  faith  they  heard  the 
Divine  voice  ijroclaiming,  as  Jesus  ascended,  "  Sit 
thou  at  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thine  enemies 
thy  footstool;"  and  when  the  Spirit  came,  they  went 
forth  to  their  work  without  fear  or  misgiving.  They 
knew  that  Jesus  had  only  to  choose  the  way  in 
which  He  would  exert  the  might  which  He  pos- 
sessed for  the  conquest  of  the  world ;  and  that  the 
way  which  He  had  chosen  was,  to  make  the  efforts 
of  His  servants  effectual  for  the  mighty  end.  They 
had  a  deep  conviction  that  the  work  was  His,  not 
theirs ;  that  they  were  but  instruments  in  the  hands 
of  an  alniiglity  Captain,  who  had  planned  all  the 
campaign,  and  who  would  arrange  and  direct  the 
whole  operations  of  His  army,  and  at  last  crown 
them  with  success.  They  knew  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  whom   He  was  to  send  would  make  their 


346  HIS  IJE- APPEARANCE. 

words  quick  and  effectual  for  opening  men's  eyes, 
convicting  their  consciences,  renewing  their  wills, 
and  transforming  their  lives.  In  that  attitude,  and 
in  that  trust,  "  they  went  forth,  and  preached  every- 
where, the  Lord  working  with  them,  and  confirm- 
ing the  word  by  signs  following." 

Would  only  that  the  same  view  of  the  situation 
had  prevailed  ever  since — the  same  faith,  the  same 
love,  the  same  hope — for  the  world  to-day  would  be 
in  a  very  different  condition.  Would  that  even 
now,  all  Christ's  public  servants  could  be  brought 
back  to  the  same  view  of  things  that  influenced  the 
apostles ;  the  same  sense  of  personal  emptiness,  the 
same  trust  in  the  Divine  Captain  of  our  salvation, 
and  in  the  efficacy  of  the  means  by  which  He  is  to 
achieve  the  conquest  of  the  world  !  One  might  be 
willing  to  blot  out  the  record  of  all  the  intervening 
centuries,  if  the  Church  could  only  be  brought  back 
to  the  attitude  of  that  believing  handful,  who  felt 
so  certain  of  their  Lord's  omnipotent  power,  waited 
with  such  unfaltering  faith  for  the  promise  of  the 
Father,  and,  when  the  Spirit  came,  were  so  bold  and 
earnest  in  calling  on  men  to  believe  on  Jesus.  Like 
the  archer  on  the  white  horse,  they  went  forth  con- 
quering and  to  conquer.  Triumph  followed  triumph, 
wherever  they  proclaimed  the  story  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  What  hinders  us  from  doing  the  same, 
and  achieving  the  like  results,  except  that  we  have 
not  the  faith  which  they  had  in  the  Father,  and 
in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost?  If  only 
we  would  take  up  the  posture  of  servants,  exe- 
cuting the   designs   of  a  heavenly  Master,  relying 


HIS  EE- APPEAR ANCE.  347 

on  the  grace  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  and  giving  our- 
selves soul,  body,  and  spirit  to  His  work,  results 
not  inferior  to  theirs  would  crown  our  labours,  and 
of  our  work  as  of  theirs  it  would  be  written, — 
"  So  mightily  grew  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and 
prevailed." 


THE  END. 


PRINTED  BY  T.    AND   A.    CONSTABLE,    PRINTERS  TO  HER   JIAJEST*. 
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